“I don't know if I'm going” - David Taylor expresses doubts over World Championships participation after dominant win at the Team Trials

David Taylor came back from his brief retirement to dominate the 2024 World Team Trials, but the wrestler is unsure of his path moving ahead. Speaking after his win, the former Nittany Lion expressed his doubts about his participation at the World Championships as he prioritizes his role as head coach of the Oklahoma Cowboys.

Taylor has had an excellent career as a wrestler. The 33-year-old is a three-time World Champion and the 2020 Olympic gold-medalist. Earlier this year, the American lost out to Aaron Brooks in the finals of the U.S Olympic Trials, and subsequently announced his retirement from the sport, taking up the head coach position with the Oklahoma Cowboys.

The Olympic champion made a return to the mat for the World Team Trials, successfully clinching the title. However, after his win, David Taylor expressed doubts on whether he would be competing at the Championships in October. Talking to the media, the wrestler emphasized that his priority was his coaching career, saying,

“Am I going to go to the World Championships? I don't know. I still got to talk to the team you, I got a lot of stuff going on. We (Oklahoma Cowboys) have got a lot of momentum and we want to be national champions. My responsibility (lies) there. My administration’s got to talk to them and we'll see if that's the right decision but right now I'm just happy to finish this way.”

David Taylor explains his decision to compete at the World Team Trials

With his future as a wrestler still undecided, David Taylor explained that his decision to compete at the World Team Trials stemmed from a wish to leave the mat on his terms. Speaking to media, the 33-year-old expressed that he'd ‘gotten away’ from his usual style of competing, and looked at the Trials as a way of redemption, even calling his decision to compete as a coach ‘selfish’.

“This whole thing was not about going to the World Championships, it's not about (the) world title. The selfish part of this was, what you just saw there, that's how I competed my whole life, and I had gotten away from that. And I said if I'm going to go, I want to wrestle like that, that's the selfish side of it.”

“I haven't wrestled six matches in a long time, so to go wrestle like that every single time. You get one chance left to wrestle your last match, so let's go out and wrestle you know?”

If David Taylor does decide to compete at the championships, he will have an opportunity to add a fifth world medal and fourth world title to his collection. The event is scheduled to take place in Tirana, Albania between October 28 and 31.