Paris 2024: Olympic gold missing piece in Kyle Dake's storied wrestling career
Kyle Dake has a wrestling résumé that ranks among the most impressive in United States history. The two-time New York state high school champion from Lansing became a four-time NCAA titlist at nearby Cornell University and a four-time world champion.
His first Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 produced a bronze medal. Dake, 33, now hopes to add the one missing piece to his list of achievements as he goes for gold in the men's freestyle 74-kilogram class at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Dake is the lone No. 1 seed among American wrestlers. Wrestling will occupy Champ-de-Mars Arena during the final week of the Games. Competition in Dake's weight class is set for Aug. 9 and 10. Qualifiers, round of 16 matches and quarterfinals are on the agenda for day one beginning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time.
Three years ago Dake bounced back from an 11-0 loss to eventual silver medalist Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau in the quarterfinals to secure one of the two bronze medals with a 5-0 win over Frank Chamizo. Dake also wrestled at 74 kilograms (163 pounds) in 2021.
Without going into detail, Dake confirmed after the Tokyo Games he was not at 100% physically because of illness during his stunning result against Kadzimahamedau.
Dake's most recent major international competition was the 2023 Wrestling World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, where he won a silver medal after losing 10-7 to Russia's Zaurbek Sidakov in the final.
Dake told USA Wrestling in its Olympic Dream Series he has four objectives in Paris.
"The biggest thing for me is how can I compete with gratitude, be thankful for the opportunity," Dake said. "How can I compete with courage? Don't be wrestling with fear. And how can I go score points? Not freezing when you get out there. If I can have fun, that wraps everything in a nice bow."
More: How to watch Kyle Dake in 2024 Paris Olympics
Dake faces formidable field
Sidakov, a three-time world champion and gold medalist in Tokyo, is not competing in Paris. He was not on an International Olympic Committee list of Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN for short based on French language) from Russia eligible to compete in the wake of bans for Russia and Belarus because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. All 10 approved wrestlers with Russian passports subsequently declined their Olympic invites.
Despite his absence, the field of 18 is a strong one.
Top seeds behind Dake include 2023 under-23 world champion Turan Bayramov of Azerbaijan at No. 2, 2024 European champion Georgios Kougioumtsidis of Greece at No. 3, and 2023 World Championships bronze medalists Daichi Takatani of Japan and Khetik Tsabolov of Serbia at Nos. 4 and 5.
Kadzimahamedau was one of seven wrestlers with Belarusian passports to receive invites to Paris and one of two to accept. He will compete under the AIN tag and gives the 74-kilogram field another contender despite being unseeded after losing to Kougioumtsidis in the first round of last year's World Championships.
FloWrestling tagged unseeded Russia native Razambek Zhamalov as having gold-medal potential. He lost a match to Sidakov on a step-out point and has victories over several highly regarded wrestlers.
'Long road' amid father's death
Dake has had a strong year on the mat while dealing with family tragedy.
After winning gold at the Pan American Games in February, Dake swept Jason Nolf in the best-of-three finals (4-1 and 3-1) at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in April in State College, Pennsylvania, where Dake has lived and trained since winning his fourth world title in September of 2022.
The Olympic Trials came a week after Dake's father, Douglas Dake, died at age 62.
"It's been a lot, a really long road," Dake said that night. "My dad got really sick at the beginning of the year and he passed away last week. He was the reason I got into wrestling. I just really miss him."
Because of COVID-related restrictions on spectators, Dake's family was unable to attend the Tokyo Olympics. Family includes his wife, Megan; their children EllaJo, Emilia and Leo; and his mom, Jodi.
"I think the thing I'm most excited about is my family being there," Dake told USA Wrestling. "I'm just really close with everyone in my family. Tokyo was hard because I just couldn't share it with them."
Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Breaking down Kyle Dake's bid for wrestling gold at Paris Olympics
