Award Season

Snyder, Zadick Take Top Honors at USOC’s Team USA Awards

Thursday, November 30, 2017 - 15:50 By

Share this article

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The United States Olympic Committee today announced the winners for the 2017 Team USA Awards presented by Dow, Best of the Year, recognizing the outstanding achievements of Team USA athletes, teams and coaches.

The Male Olympic Athlete of the Year is 2017 World champion freestyle wrestler Kyle Snyder (Woodbine, Md./Titan Mercury WC/Ohio RTC).

“This is great because Team USA is built from a ton of amazing and talented athletes. To be awarded this title is pretty special,” said Snyder.

Snyder becomes just the fourth wrestler to win a USOC Athlete of the Year award, joining Olympic and World champions John Smith in 1990, Rulon Gardner in 2000 and Jordan Burroughs in 2015.

Snyder won the 97 kg World gold medal in what was dubbed the “Match of the Century,” defeating Olympic champion and two-time World champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev of Russia in the finals. His win gave the USA the World Team title over Russia by one team point. 

“In the World finals, I faced someone that many people think is one of the greatest of all time, and I competed well. I was able to train hard both mentally and physically for the World Championships,” said Snyder.

“We are really excited to see Kyle recognized by the U.S. Olympic family for his incredible contributions to USA Wrestling’s program and the U.S. Olympic movement. Congratulations to Kyle, his family, his coaches and his teammates on this achievement,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender.

USA Wrestling National Freestyle Coach Bill Zadick, who led Team USA to the World Team Title in freestyle wrestling, was named National Olympic Coach of the Year.

The United States edged Russia by one point to win the 2017 Freestyle World Team Title, its first in 22 years going back to 1995, and only its third ever. 

“It is an honor to be included in this group of excellent coaches, which is humbling. A good plan is contingent upon good people in the right places. We have a vision to be the best and believed we could be World Champion. It is a victory for everybody,” said Zadick.

Zadick became National Freestyle Coach in August 2016 and was in his first year leading the program after more than seven years as an Assistant National Freestyle Coach. 

“We are extremely excited to see Bill Zadick recognized with such a prestigious honor. In the short time that Bill has been National Freestyle Coach, he has established himself as one of the very best coaches and leaders in Olympic sport. He is a great coach but even a better person,” said Bender.

Zadick is the first USA Wrestling coach to win the USOC Olympic Coach of the Year award, and only the second to win any USOC coaching award. 

#WrestleZagreb

Tazhudinov in search for answers despite bronze medal

Thursday, September 18, 2025 - 08:45 By Vinay Siwach

Share this article

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 16) -- A World Championships medal might be a career milestone for most wrestlers, but for Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), the bronze he won in Zagreb is a prize he hopes to forget.

Coming into the tournament in Zagreb, Tazhudinov was considered as the best wrestler in the world and the favorite to win the gold medal at the 97kg. He had built a reputation of a wrestler who bulldozes anyone who stands in his path, as he did to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But Tazhudinov was anything but an Olympic and world champion in Zagreb.

He almost dropped his quarterfinal match with Mogomed KURBANOV (UWW), needing a front headlock roll to survive. The thrill of victory was short lived, as Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) showed that Tazhudinov is indeed human, winning their semifinal 5-2 to end Tazhudinov's golden run.

"My initial goal was the gold medal," Tazhudinov said. "I wanted to become a two-time world champion. Unfortunately, it didn't happen -- maybe it was meant to be this way. It's very painful to lose."

As he searched for answers for his performance, Tazhudinov said that recent shoulder surgery may have affected his wrestling at the World Championships.

"I was coming back after surgery, after a serious injury," Tazhudinov said. "Maybe that had an effect, I don't even know. It took me a very long time to get myself together. At the beginning, training sessions were very difficult."

Tazhudinov returned from surgery to win two gold medals in a one-month span -- first at the Spain Grand Prix and then at the Budapest Ranking Series in June.

After the semifinal loss to Azarpira, Tazhudinov returned the next night for the bronze-medal bout with 34-year-old Akhmed MAGAMAEV (BUL), which only further put Tazhudinov under the scanner despite winning the match.

Magamaev was on the activity clock when he bodylocked Tazhudinov and slammed him for four points just before the 30 seconds elapsed. Tazhudinov rebounded with a takedown to make it 4-2 at the break.

He began the second period with another takedown to make it 4-4, but Magamaev continued the scramble and both wrestlers were awarded two exposure points each, putting the Bulgarian ahead 6-6 on criteria.

A counter lift to exposure gave Tazhudinov the lead for the first time, 8-6, and as Magamaev tried doing the counter lift, he gave up two as Tazhudinov blocked him. The final scramble, which gave Tazhudinov an 11-10 win, was challenged by Bulgaria. Eventually, it was scored 13-10.

Despite winning the bout, Tazhudinov shook his head as he left the mat, perhaps surprised himself by his lackluster performance.

"Honestly, I don't even know what went wrong," he said. "It means I wasn't well enough prepared. It means I wasn't in my best shape. It means I need to work even more."

Tazhudinov said he had difficulty preparing mentally for the bronze-medal bout after the loss to Azarpira.

"After the semifinal loss, I couldn't motivate myself at all for the bronze-medal match," he said. "I don't even know how I stepped onto the mat. I wasn't mentally ready to wrestle at all, and that's why the match was so difficult.

"But I will not give up -- I'll go home, work on my mistakes, and train even harder to come back stronger."