Aaron Brooks Loses Late, Will Wrestle for Bronze at Paris Olympics

The former Nittany Lion gives up a takedown in the final 5 seconds of his semifinal bout.

Aaron Brooks waves to the crowd before a match in the men's freestyle 86kg weight class at the 2024 Paris Olympics. / Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

Aaron Brooks, Penn State's four-time NCAA wrestling champion who made a strong run through Thursday's opening rounds of the Paris Olympics, will wrestle for a bronze medal following a last-second loss in the semifinals. Brooks fell to fifth-seeded Magomed Ramazanov of Bulgaria, 4-3, giving up a takedown with less than 5 seconds left in the match.

Brooks will wrestle for bronze Friday, seeking to become just the second Penn State wrestler to win an Olympics wrestling medal for Team USA. He would join David Taylor, who won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, Brooks appeared poised to follow Taylor's pursuit of gold late into his match against Ramazanov, who made a frantic turn in the waning seconds to surprise Brooks.

Brooks took a 3-0 lead after one period, but Ramazanov scored a takedown midway through the second to cut his deficit to one. Brooks fended off further scoring after the takedown, forced a stalemate and held his one-point lead until under 10 seconds remained in the bout.

That's when Brooks shot and grabbed an ankle, seeking to prevent Ramazanov from an offensive shot. However, Ramazanov spun on Brooks with about 5 seconds left, flipping Brooks in the process for the winning takedown.

Brooks will face the winner of the repechage match between Alexander Moore of Canada and Javrail Shapiev of Uzbekistan for a bronze medal at 86 kg. The match is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. ET Friday on Peacock.

Ramazanov will meet second-seeded Hassan Yazdani of Iran in Friday's gold-medal match. Taylor defeated Yazdani 4-3 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and also bettered Yazdani for world titles in 2022 and '23. Their paths seemed seemed destined for a rematch in Paris until Brooks intervened, sweeping Taylor in a best-of-three series at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in April in State College.

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Brooks, the 24-year-old whom NBC Sports called "the new face of American men's wrestling,"
began the tournament with two wins Thursday, including one against the overall top seed. Brooks defeated top-seeded Azamat Dauletbekov of Kazakhstan 4-3 in the first round of competition. He scored the match's only takedown in defeating the 2024 Asian champion and two-time World bronze medalist.

In a quick turnaround for the quarterfinal, Brooks dominated No. 8 seed Hayato Ishiguro of Japan in an 11-1 technical fall. Brooks scored five second-period takedowns for the win. He did not allow a takedown in the first two bouts of competition.

Despite winning two age-group world titles and defeating Taylor at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials, Brooks went unseeded in the Olympics since he had little senior experience at the international level. However, Brooks has compiled a spectacular body of work in NCAA and freestyle wrestling over the past year. The Hagerstown, Maryland, native won a U23 world title in 2023 before embarking on one of the great seasons in Penn State wrestling history.

Brooks went 22-0 on the year with six pins, 11 technical falls and three major decisions. He won 20 of his 22 bouts with bonus points, helping Penn State to Big Ten and NCAA team titles. At the 2024 NCAA Championships, Brooks went 5-0 with four bonus-point victories to win his fourth national championship and first at 197 pounds. Brooks was named the most dominant wrestler at the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments and won the Hodge Trophy as the nation's most outstanding college wrestler.

Only a few weeks after winning the NCAA title, Brooks swept Taylor in a best-of-three final to win the 86 kg freestyle weight class at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials in State College. Taylor was a three-time world champion in the weight class and the defending Olympic champion. Brooks defeated Taylor 3-1 in the clinching bout of the Olympic Trials, a tour that included a breathtaking late rally against Zahid Valencia.

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Penn State on SI is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.