Penn State Sports Magazine
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3 8 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M dominated Valencia in two bouts in the 2022 World Team Trials. And had Tay- lor won the finals, he would have been in training for his second consecutive Olympic Games and very likely would not have been asked to become Okla- homa State's next head coach, a job he accepted on May 6. The beauty and intricacies of athletic competition sided with Brooks, though. He said he had to lose 12 pounds in about nine hours to make weight on the morn- ing of the finals, and he got about four hours of sleep. It didn't seem to affect him against Taylor. Additionally, Taylor was able to sit out until the finals because he was a defending World medalist, while Brooks had three taxing matches. In the first bout, Brooks took Taylor down twice, something that had hap- pened to the Olympic titlist only once in the past seven years. Brooks' first-period counter takedown against Taylor in the second bout led to a 3-1 win and an Olympic berth. While Tay- lor kept getting to his opponent's legs in the second period, Brooks kept defending. The two embraced post-match at cen- ter mat, and Brooks said he told Taylor that he loved him. "He's one of the first guys to make this [Penn State] program what it is, him and a couple other guys," Brooks said. "It's been a blessing being around him, watching what he does. He definitely made history in wrestling." Brooks has a deep faith and said that God had blessed him with a lot of skills, and he was just mixing some in against Taylor. He said he and Taylor had not trained together leading up to the Olym- pic Trials out of respect. While Brooks' victory was the talk of the Olympic Trials, not everyone believed that his title was an upset. Ken Chertow, a three-time All-American for Penn State and 1988 U.S. Olympian in the Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, said he wasn't shocked by the result. "I felt David still has what it takes to be the greatest in the world, but Aaron's a strong man and an awesome wrestler," Chertow said. "David has mentored him well, and they've trained together hun- dreds of times. I knew it would be close, and it was, and I knew it was possible for Aaron to beat him. "Aaron's a world-class athlete, he's in his prime, and David has had trouble fin- ishing on a bigger, stronger athlete. Aaron was able to defend himself really well." Preparing For Paris Brooks said after the Olympic Trials that he would take a short break and be- gin training for Paris. That would include sessions within the Nittany Lion Wres- tling Club and likely trips to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. His Olympic competition will be world-class wrestlers such as Taylor's archnemesis, Hassan Yazdani of Iran, as well as Azamat Dauletbekov of Kazakhstan, Javrail Shap- iev of Uzbekistan and Osman Nurma- gomedov of Azerbaijan, among 11 others in the 16-man bracket. During World competition, Brooks plans on competing at 92 kilograms, or 202.8 pounds, for the next three years, he said on "Basch-A-Mania," to alleviate the nearly 14-pound weight cut he'll have to make for the Olympic Games. Brooks can expect to see wrestlers who are quite a bit older and more experi- enced, but Chertow noted that the recent Penn State graduate from Hagerstown, Md., has been on the international circuit since he was 16. "I'm sure he'll be well-prepared by the Nittany Lion club staff and the Olym- pic staff," Chertow said. "The biggest key would be finishing shots expediently and not getting pushed out, but I think he'll be just fine. He's an expert freestyler. "I don't think anything is going to be a surprise to Aaron," Chertow added. "He's already a world champion in his age group, and he just beat the world's best pound-for-pound wrestler, so I think he'll be just fine." ■ There was plenty of mutual respect between Brooks and Taylor, who between them won six national championships at Penn State. Brooks said of his PSU predecessor, "It's been a blessing being around him, watching what he does. He definitely made history in wrestling." PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS "I don't think anything is going to be a surprise to Aaron. He's already a wor ld champion in his age group, and he just beat the wor ld's best pound-for-pound wrestler. I think he'll be just fine." K E N C H E R T O W O N B R O O K S ' O U T L O O K H E A D I N G I N T O T H E O L Y M P I C S