American Kyle Snyder beat Khetag Gazyumov in Rio to win the gold medal in the men’s freestyle 97 kg Olympic wrestling competition.
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Had he beaten Chamizo, Molinaro could have been the third American man to medal in wrestling during Rio, joining Snyder and and J’den Cox, who won bronze in the 86kg men’s freestyle wrestling on Saturday.
Snyder, a 20-year-old Maryland native, went undefeated in his first three years of high school before foregoing his final season in 2013 to enroll in a residency program at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Kyle Snyder is only 20 years old, but he already has a world championship, an NCAA title and now an Olympic gold medal in wrestling. Jake Varner, whom Snyder beat at the U.S. Olympic trials in April, won in London four years ago. So this was no pushover for the American collegian. After a warning to Gazyumov, the match evened out, with Snyder scoring the first point on a push out. After too much inactivity, however, Gazyumov was put on a shot clock, and Snyder scored his second point. Snyder didn’t give the veteran Olympian a chance, earning the point.
Snyder, a junior at OSU, won the NCAA championship past year.
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Snyder’s win continues a US streak of at least one men’s freestyle champion in every Olympics since 1968.
