Kyle Dake entered the Tokyo Olympics with high expectations and won the bronze medal in the men’s 76kg freestyle wrestling tournament.
Dake beat two-time world champion Frank Chamizo of Italy to win his first career Olympic medal.
The Ithica, N.Y. native is a highly decorated wrestler who won the 2018 Senior World championship and was a two-time senior world team member (2018, 2019).
He attended Cornell University and became a four-time NCAA champion and the first wrestler to win four NCAA Division I titles in four different weight classes.
After being the Olympic Trials runner-up in 2016, Dake returned in 2021 to defeat Jordan Burroughs, who is regarded as one of the greatest American wrestlers of all time.
In Tokyo, Dake beat Mostafa Hosseinkhani of Iran in his first match but fell to Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov of Belarus by technical superiority. Kadimagomedov previously trained under former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Dake was able to bounce back due to a second chance in the repechage round and defeated Geandry Garzón of Cuba by technical superiority to earn a shot at bronze.
