Penn State's Aaron Brooks Wins Wrestling Bronze at Paris Olympics

The 4-time NCAA champ rebounded from a stinging semifinal loss to post a shutout in a bronze-medal match.

Former Penn State wrestler Aaron Brooks reacts after winning a match in the 286 kg men's freestyle weight class at the 2024 Paris Olympics. / Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

Aaron Brooks punctuated his first Olympics with a dominant performance Friday, defeating Javrail Shapiev of Uzbekistan 5-0 for a bronze medal. Brooks, competing in the 86 kg men's freestyle class, became just the second Penn State wrestler to win an Olympic medal for Team USA. He joined fellow former Nittany Lion legend David Taylor, who won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Brooks, a four-time NCAA champion at Penn State, wrestled a superb tournament in his first senior international competition. He went 2-1 during Thursday's opening round, falling in the semifinals on a stinging late takedown by Bulgaria's Magomed Ramazanov. But Brooks rebounded in a bronze-medal match, which he particularly controlled in the second period.

Leading 2-0 after the first period, Brooks scored a physical takedown during a 30-second passivity period to double his lead. Brooks pushed Shapiev toward another takedown but couldn't finish it inbound. Instead, Brooks was awarded one point for the step out to complete the scoring.

Aaron Brooks - 2024 Olympic Bronze Medalist at 86kg! 🥉🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/mnfq4P9Hpo

— NLWC (@NittanyLionWC) August 9, 2024

The Paris Olympics represented Brooks' first international competition at the senior level. He previously won gold medals in U17 (2017 Cadet Worlds) and U23 (2023) age-group competitions.

Now, Brooks is the 24-year-old wrestler whom NBC Sports called "the new face of American men's wrestling." He 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.

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But Brooks lost a heartbreaker in the semifinals. Leading Ramazanov 3-0 after one period, Brooks gave up two takedowns in the second period of a 4-3 loss. Ramazanov converted the winning takedown with about 5 seconds left in the match by flipping Brooks, who had taken a shot on Ramazanov's lower leg.

Brooks' Olympic run completed a spectacular 12 months of wrestling in which he won a U23 world title, his fourth NCAA championship and the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials. 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.

Brooks became the third Penn State wrestler to win an Olympic medal. In addition to Taylor, Katsutoshi Naito, who wrestled for Penn State in the 1920s, won a bronze medal for Japan at the 1924 Olympics.

Elsewhere at the Olympics on Friday, Kyle Dake, Brooks' teammate at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, lost to Japan's Daichi Takatani 20-12 in the semifinals at 74 kg. Dake had dominated his first two bouts Friday, winning both by fall. Dake, the weight class' top seed, will wrestle Saturday for his second consecutive bronze medal.

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