Kyle Snyder

Country: USA
Sport: Wrestling
Date of Birth: 11/20/1995
First Olympics: 2016, Rio

Failure is not something that Kyle Snyder has ever been accustomed to in his life.

In three seasons as a high school wrestler at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, Snyder was undefeated at 179-0. As a freshman in college, the Woodbine, Maryland, native helped lead Ohio State University to the school’s first-ever NCAA championship in 2015.

The only problem for Snyder: He was unable to win an individual title. Instead, he finished in second place at the NCAA finals.

It wasn’t long before he bounced back in a big way though. Later that year, Snyder became the youngest American wrestler to win a world title when he defeated the reigning champion, Russia’s Abdusalam Gadisov, at the World Championships.

Snyder removed his Olympic redshirt midway through the 2016 college wrestling season. Competing in the heavyweight (285 lbs) division where many of his opponents outweighed him by 30-50 pounds, he would not lose a match en route to toppling two-time champion Nick Gwiazdowski in the final round of the NCAA championship and finally earning himself the NCAA title that had eluded him in 2015.

Snyder was named the USA Wrestling Freestyle Wrestler of the Year in 2015.

A 2016 World Cup champion, Snyder found similar success at the Olympic trials. 

As Snyder quickly moves up the wrestling ranks, his next challenge is the 2016 Rio Olympics.

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