Former Penn State wrestler David Taylor sets sights on Olympic gold

When Penn State wrestling legend David Taylor takes the mat in Tokyo this week in his first Olympics appearance, he’ll realize a dream that’s been a longtime coming.

The road to the Olympics has not been not an easy stroll for Taylor, who just now earned a spot on the Team USA roster, following attempts in 2012 and 2016 that ended with winning records but fell just short of his Olympic dreams. After fighting through a weight change, an ACL injury and a pandemic, Taylor has finally made it onto the sport’s biggest stage.

But Taylor isn’t satisfied with just making it to the Games.

“Since I was a little kid, I’ve never dreamed about being an Olympic medalist or being an Olympian,” Taylor said. “I know that those are both huge accomplishments, but … my goal in Tokyo is coming back with a gold medal … and I believe I can have a very successful Olympic campaign.”

Taylor will have a difficult road ahead of him to reach his goal, including having to beat out 2016 Olympic gold medalist at 74 kilograms Hassan Yazdani, of Iran, who some media outlets are favoring to win gold this year at 86 kilograms, despite Taylor being victorious in the pair’s last matchup, in the 2018 World Championships, and pinning him in the 2017 World Cup final.

Putting the pressure of high expectations and the world’s focus being on him aside, Taylor is approaching his first Olympics just as he would any other big wrestling event.

“I started wrestling when I was 5 years old, national championship when I was 8, so really for the last 22 years of my life, I’ve been performing at the highest level.” Taylor said. “It’s the Olympic Games, and it’s a huge event, but I’ve been wrestling in big events my entire life.”

Performing at the highest level seems to be an understatement for Taylor. His impressive resume includes two national championships, four Big 10 championships and two Dan Hodge Trophies — college wrestling’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy — to a World Championship and two Pan American Championships in the past three years.

Taylor hasn’t lost an official match in four years, as his last defeat came in the 2017 US World Team Trials.

He currently boasts a 40-match unbeaten streak in senior freestyle, but what makes the Olympics even more special is that Taylor bumped up in weight before the 2016 Rio qualifiers with Tokyo in mind.

“I switched to the 86 kgs (weight class) for the future of my career, … I knew that was for 2020,” Taylor said. “I think in 2017, I really made that transition on the world stage and have been able to keep that momentum.”

After making that move to 86 kg, Taylor was on the top of his game, navigating through a loaded field to win gold in his first World Championships appearance in October 2018. For his efforts, he was voted the world’s top pound-for-pound wrestler that year by United World Wrestling.

Then Taylor hit a setback, as an ACL tear in the spring of 2019 at a wrestling fundraiser event forced him to take about a year off from competition. He had planned to return in time for the U.S. Olympic Trials, which were set to be held at the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State’s campus in March 2020. But due to the pandemic, they were pushed to this past April in Fort Worth, Texas.

Despite the setbacks and delays, Cael Sanderson, Taylor’s coach both at Penn State and with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, isn’t surprised that Taylor has reached this point.

“He’s been in unbelievable shape, especially since he made that move to 86 kg,” Sanderson said. “It hasn’t been by chance that he’s gotten big, strong and that he’s established himself as one of the best wrestlers in the world at any weight class. It’s just through discipline and hard work.”

Taylor’s decision paid off at the U.S. Olympic Trials in April, when he defeated and shut out fellow famed Penn State wrestler and friend Bo Nickal in two matches in the best-of-three final to earn the coveted qualifying bid.

Sanderson, himself a 2004 Olympic gold medalist at 86 kg, trained both Nickal and Taylor and was too split to even watch the match.

“We want those guys to be in the finals of the Olympic Trials,” Sanderson said. “But it’s also definitely challenging, because it’s like having your own two kids wrestling.”

Sanderson, along with his brother, Penn State associate head coach Cody Sanderson, and Penn State assistant coach Casey Cunningham, will all be in Tokyo as personal coaches for Taylor, as well as fellow NLWC athletes Thomas Gilman (57 kg) and Kyle Snyder (97 kg).

While Taylor will be trading in his Nittany Lion Wrestling Club singlet for a red, white and blue USA one when the Olympics kick off Friday, the State College resident is forever grateful for his Penn State roots, which he said helped get him to this point.

“Not many people are able to go to college, stay at that same place and to be able to accomplish what they want all the way through, so without this coaching staff, I wouldn’t be in this situation,” Taylor said. “I’m thankful to have chosen Penn State.”