Kyle Dake is a strong medal contender for the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics who will be in action in the men's 74kg freestyle wrestling category. In Tokyo, Dake secured a bronze medal in the same weight class. This time, he aims to upgrade the color of his medal and add another to his collection.
Dake's quest for another Olympic podium finish begins on August 9, with qualification rounds starting at 11:30 AM local time/ 5:30 AM Eastern Time onwards. If he progresses to the semifinals, his match will begin later that day at 6:15 PM local time/ 12:15 PM Eastern Time onwards.
If Dake stumbles on his way to a medal and loses a match, he will still have a chance to finish on the podium through the repechage rounds, provided his opponent, who defeated him, reaches the finals. These repechage rounds will begin the next day, August 10, starting at 11:00 AM local time/ 5:00 AM Eastern Time onwards.
However, if the four-time world champion storms into the final of the men’s 74kg freestyle, he will directly feature in the gold-medal bout, scheduled at 07:30 pm local time/ 01:30 pm Eastern Time on August 10.
Kyle Dake is the top-seeded wrestler in the 74kg freestyle category. This implies that he will be up against one of the unseeded wrestlers at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The seedings are determined by the wrestlers’ performance at top international competitions like the World Championships, Continental Championships, and Wrestling Series events.
In the men’s 74kg, Dake can face other prominent names including Younes Emami, Tajmuraz Salkazanov, Daichi Takatani, and Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau, among others.
Kyle Dake’s road to Paris Olympics 2024
Kyle Dake qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics by winning the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials held for the quadrennial games. He earlier had won the quota for the event for the USA in the class through his silver-medal finish at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships.
Since the quota belonged to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and not the wrestler, the top USA wrestlers battled it out, with Jason Nolf defeating the six-time world champion Jordan Burroughs on his way to reaching the Best-of-Three Championship series.
However, it was Dake who prevailed in the Best-of-Three final by 2-0 to make it to his second consecutive Olympic Games.