Kyle Snyder is headed to Rio.
Seven months after the Ohio State sophomore became the youngest World Champion in USA Wrestling history, and a mere weeks after capturing an NCAA Championship at heavyweight, Snyder clinched a spot as a member of the United States contingent for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where he'll represent Team USA at 97kg.
Snyder topped reigning Olympic gold medalist Jake Varner in a best-of-three encounter, rallying to win the final two matches. It was the first time since 1988 that a reigning Olympic Champion faced a reigning World Champion at team Olympic trials.
After Varner won the first match 4–4 on criteria, Snyder forced the tie-breaker with a 4–0 victory in the second match.
| Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Snyder | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| jake varner | 4 | 0 | 1 |
The rubber match was all Snyder as he took control early with a takedown 45 seconds into the match. He followed with a force out of Varner to take a 3–0 lead into the final period. Another takedown a minute into the second period pushed Snyder's lead to 5–0 and the Buckeye held on for the 6–1 win.
“I was definitely nervous. (Varner) put a lot of pressure on me,” Snyder said. “Thankfully Coach (Lou) Rosselli lost his first match in the 1996 Trials and came back so he had some good things to say to me after the first match tonight. It kind of calmed me down a little bit.”
“It’s pretty hard to describe. It started off making it to the NCAA finals as a true freshman then losing that. After that I kind of fell into a lot of success, not really fall into it but through a lot of hard work and self-belief. I really haven’t had a chance to look back on it yet, honestly.”
The opening ceremony for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad is Friday, Aug. 5, with freestyle wrestling action beginning on Wednesday, Aug. 17.
