Kyle Dake And His Path To Olympic Wrestling Gold: Here's a Breakdown
Kyle Dake And His Path To Olympic Wrestling Gold: Here's a Breakdown
A breakdown of the draw for Team USA wrestler Kyle Dake at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kyle will wrestle in the 74 kg weight class at the Paris Olympics. Dake will start his tournament on Friday, August 8 with the opening rounds starting at 5:00 am (ET). Check out the below article for a full breakdown of Kyle Dake’s draw in the 74 kg Olympic bracket.
74 kg Olympic Bracket
Round 1 - Anthony Montero, VEN
As the #1 seed, Kyle Dake received maybe the best draw he could have hoped for with all four, unseeded Russians (representing other countries) drawn in on the other side of the bracket. On top of that, Dake will be a huge favorite over Venezueal’s Anthony Montero in the first round. Dake recently wrestled Montero at the 2024 Pan-Am Championships and teched him 13-0.
Kyle Dake's win over Montero at the 2024 Pan-Am Championships:
Quarterfinals - Chamizo, ITA/Emami, IRI
Dake’s quarterfinals opponent will be a little tougher and he’ll likely wrestle the winner of the pigtail match between Younes Emami and Frank Chamizo. It’s worth noting that the winner of that match will have to beat Bacar Ndum but both Emami and Chamizo will be the big favorite in that match.
Dake has head-to-head wins over both Emami and Chamizo and will be the favorite in the potential quarterfinal bout. Dake beat Emami 2-2 in the semis of the 2022 World Championships and has two past wins over Frank Chamizo (4-3 in 2020 and 5-0 at the Tokyo Olympics). Again, Dake will be the favorite but whoever he wrestles in the quarters will be a challenge.
Kyle Dake's win over Emami at 2022 Worlds:
Kyle Dake's win over Chamizo from 2020:
Semifinals - Tsabolov, SRB / Mahdavi, EOR / Garzon, CUB / Takatani, JPN
Of the above four wrestlers, Khetik Tsabolov and Daichi Takatani are the two most likely to make it to the semifinals. Both Tsabolov and Takatani won bronze medals at the 2023 World Championships and will be formidable opponents for Dake. Takatani wrestled Dake to a close, 6-4 match at worlds last year but Dake and Tsabolov have never wrestled in their senior-level careers. Tsabolov is a Russian now representing Serbia and has an incredible hitlist that includes past wins over Zaurbek Sidakov, James Green, and several other highly credentialed wrestlers. Tsabolov and Takatani are capable of beating Dake and should make for an incredible semifinal match.
Kyle Dake's win over Takatani at 2023 Worlds:
Potential Finals Matchups
As mentioned above, several top wrestlers were drawn in on the other side of the bracket. Dake could see any number of wrestlers including Georgios Kougioumtsidis (GRE), Viktor Rassadin (TJK), Tajmuraz Salkazanov (SVK), Razambek Zhamalov (UZB), Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov (AIN), or Chermen Valiev (ALB). Of that group, Zhamalov and Kadimagomedov wrestle in a pigtail with the winner of that wrestling two-time world silver medalist Salkazanov. Going into the tournament, I was picking Zhamalov to make the finals, and if he does, he’ll have to run through an insane gauntlet of really tough competitors.