Former PSU wrestling great Aaron Brooks takes bronze
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Former Nittany Lion legend Aaron Brooks capped off his first trip to the Olympic Games by winning a Bronze Medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Brooks' win Friday in Paris makes him the third wrestler in Penn State history to win an Olympic medal.
Former Lion great Roman Bravo-Young competed at 57 kg for Mexico on Thursday and Penn State Olympic RTC/NLWC athlete Kyle Dake began action today as well. Penn State and the Penn State Olympic Regional Training Center/NLWC have five wrestlers competing in the Paris Games.
Brooks opened up his tournament on Thursday with a strong 4-3 win over top-seed Azamat Dauletbekov of Kazakhstan at 86 kg. He then rolled over Japan's Hayato Ishiguro, 11-1, in the quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals later in the afternoon.
In the semis, Brooks opened up an early lead but a last second takedown by Bulgaria's Mogamad Eldarovitch sent the Lion to the Bronze Medal match with a 4-3 loss. Brooks met Uzbekistan's Javrail Shapiev in the Bronze Medal Match on Friday afternoon. He dominated Shapiev, rolling to a 5-0 win to earn Bronze. The medal is the first for Brooks, in his first trip to the Olympic Games.
Brooks joins Katsutoshi Naito (Japan, bronze, 61 kilograms, 1924) and David Taylor (USA, gold, 86 kilograms, 2020) as Penn State's Olympic medalists. Penn State has nine Olympians, including three first-timers this year.
Dake began competition at 74 kilograms as well. Dake rolled over Anthony Montero Chirinos of Venezuela in the opening round, posting a quick 10-0 technical superiority. He met Iran's Yones Emamichoghaei in the quarterfinals and, opened up a 9-1 lead before taking the Iranian down again and ending the bout with a fall in the final seconds. Dake advanced to the semifinals where he met Japan's Daichi Takatani. He lost a high scoring 20-12 decision to Takatani and will wrestle for his second consecutive Bronze Medal on Saturday.
Bravo-Young lost 13-3 to second-seed Arsen Harutyunyan of Armenia on Thursday in his first bout at 57 kilograms for Mexico. Haratyunyan lost his next bout, ending Bravo-Young's first Olympic appearance as he did not get pulled into the repechage.
Zain Retherford (65 kilograms) and Kyle Snyder (97 kilograms) begin competition today. Retherford will take on No. 2 seed Rahman Amouzadkhalili in his Olympic debut Saturday morning while Snyder, the No. 3 seed, will face China's Amusayiman Habila in the opening round. Saturday morning's action is set for 5 a.m. for Retherford and Snyder and 12:15 p.m. for Dake.