STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — One of the biggest stars in U.S. wrestling has failed to qualify for the Summer Olympics.
In a shocking development, two-time defending world champion and current Olympic gold medalist David Taylor will miss out on the 2024 Paris Games after losing to Aaron Brooks at the Olympic Trials on Saturday night.
Taylor, 33, earned an automatic bye to the finals at 86 kilograms due to his past performance, and secured a spot on Team USA by winning just two of three matches against Brooks. However, they suffered a crushing defeat in the first game on Saturday morning, losing 4-1 and then losing 3-1.
Only one athlete per country can compete in the Olympics.
It was an almost unfathomable result for the wrestler known to fans as “Magic Man” and arguably the most dominant male wrestler in the United States for the past five years.
Prior to this weekend's Olympic Trials, Taylor had won 26 of 27 matches dating back to the beginning of 2019, outscoring opponents by a combined score of 226-19. His only loss came in the 2021 World Championship final against Iranian rival Hassan Yazdani. The two were likely to meet again in Paris, perhaps with the gold medal on the line.
Instead, Taylor became the latest American star to be thwarted by the country's trial system, which forces even the most accomplished athletes to earn their spot.
The fact that Taylor, a Penn State graduate, lost in a college arena made Saturday's result even more surprising. Of course, the opponent was also the Nittany Lion.
Brooks, 23, just finished his collegiate career at Penn State with four consecutive NCAA titles and was the top-seeded wrestler at the Olympic Trials Challenge Tournament. And he never made it out alive to face Taylor in the first place. In Friday's final match, he edged Zahid Valencia 7-6 after Brooks was awarded a penalty point in the final minute when the referee ruled that Valencia had pulled Brooks' singlet.
