USA Wrestlers who have won more than 1 Olympic medal ft John Smith, Kyle Snyder

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Jul 15, 2024 04:34 GMT

Kyle Snyder and John Smith are among the American wrestlers with more than one Olympic medal.

USA's dominance in the Olympics is just not limited to swimming, basketball and athletics. Freestyle wrestling is equally a part of it. Although USA may not be as powerful as the erstwhile Soviet Union, they have dominated freestyle wrestling like nobody else. The Americans have won 138 medals in the sport over the years. These include 55 golds, 44 silvers and 39 bronzes.

From the likes of Dave Schultz to Kyle Snyder, USA has an infinite list of freestyle wrestling champions to take pride on. Here are some of the freestyle wrestlers from USA who have won more than one Olympic medal:

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#4) Helen Maroulis [ Freestyle - 57 kg] :

Helen Maroulis of USA with other medalists at Rio Olympics [Image Source: Getty]

Having begun at almost the same time as Kyle Snyder, this 32-year-old wrestler from Rockville, Maryland is one of the few wrestlers from USA to have won more than one Olympic gold medal.

Maroulis began with a bang when she won an Olympic gold medal on debut at Rio in 2016. She denied Saori Yoshida of Japan a chance to equal Kaori Icho's record of the most Olympic gold medals by a female freestyle wrestler.

She upgraded herself to the 57 kg [bantamweight] category by the time Tokyo Olympics came up. Though Helen Maroulis lost to Risako Kawai of Japan [who later became the Olympic champion], Helen Maroulis won the bronze medal, becoming the rare female freestyle wrestler from USA to win back to back Olympic medals.

Helen Maroulis will aim for another medal at the Paris Olympics. If she succeeds at it, she will become the first female wrestler from USA to win three consecutive Olympic medals in freestyle wrestling.

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#3) Kyle Snyder [Freestyle - 97 kg]:

Kyle Snyder with his gold medal from Rio Olympics [Image Source: Getty]

In 2015, the defending Olympic champion from USA Jake Warner was surprised by a young 20 year old grappler from Woodbine, Maryland. He went on to become the youngest world champion in that category.

However, Kyle Snyder wasn't done yet. He shocked everyone by winning the Olympic gold medal the very next year. Though he lost to Abdulrashid Sadulaev in the finals, Snyder still created a record at the Tokyo Olympics. He became only the third male freestyle wrestler from USA to win more than one Olympic medal.

If Kyle Snyder wins even a bronze medal at Paris Olympics, he will become the most successful male freestyle wrestler from USA after Bruce Robert Baumgartner.

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#2) John Smith [Freestyle - 62 kg]:

John Smith [C] with the gold medal at Seoul Olympics 1988

Today, he might be a former wrestling coach from Oklahoma State University. But before Kyle Snyder or Helen Maroulis were even born, John Smith had made USA proud with his exploits in freestyle wrestling.

John Smith has a clean slate at the World Championships. He participated four times from 1987 to 1991, and won all the four events. Apart from that, John won two consecutive gold medals in the featherweight [62 kg] category at Seoul Olympics in 1988, as well as Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

Till date, John Smith is the only male freestyle wrestler from the United States to have successfully defended his Olympic title.

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#1) Bruce Robert Baumgartner [Freestyle - 130 kg+]:

Bruce Baumgartner [L] in action [Image Sources: Getty]

If Kyle Snyder wins another medal at Paris Olympics, he shall become the most successful freestyle wrestler from USA in recent times. However, he shall still not overcome the record created by the current chief of USA wrestling, Bruce Robert Baumgartner, who is the most successful freestyle wrestler of USA of all time.

Bruce Baumgartner marked his Olympic debut with a gold medal in the super heavyweight category at Los Angeles in 1984. He followed it up with a silver medal at Seoul Olympics in 1988.

However, Baumgartner wasn't done yet. He defeated the Canadian wrestler, Jeffrey Thue to win the gold medal at Barcelona Olympics in 1992. However, his attempt to end the career on a golden high was thwarted by Andrey Shumilin of Russia, and he was forced to settle for a bronze medal at Atlanta Olympics in 1996.