Wrestler Aaron Brooks trying to stay even-keeled at Olympics

Hagerstown wrestler Aaron Brooks is set to fulfill a lifelong dream, competing on the biggest stage imaginable against the best in the world in Paris.

There are significant medals at stake: gold, silver and bronze.

These are the Olympic Games , where legends are born.

Brooks, a 2018 North Hagerstown graduate, will represent the United States in men's freestyle in the 86-kilogram (189.6-pound) weight class Aug. 8-9.

The 24-year-old is trying not to let the moment get too big.

He said his attitude and approach aren't much different than they were in high school, when he won four straight Maryland state titles for the Hubs, or in college, where he became a four-time NCAA national champion for Penn State.

"You need to approach things with a simple mindset," Brooks said. "The bigger you make it, you're kind of doing yourself a disservice. There are always big matches at whatever level you're at in your life. In high school, it's the state championships. Then it's the nationals. It's always a big moment, but it's just wrestling. It's a different stage, but it's just wrestling.

"I'm not really extra hyped, but I think it's cool," he added. "Just the closer I get to competition, I'll get a little more excited. People asked me two months out, 'Are you excited?' And I'm like, 'No, not really.' But then two weeks out, a week out, it's 'Man, I'm looking forward to competing.' But that's how it always is."

How did Aaron Brooks qualify for the Olympics?

Brooks earned his spot on Team USA for Paris by winning the 86-kilogram weight class at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials in April at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center, less than a month after he wrapped up his college wrestling career.

In the best-of-3 championship finals, he stunned heavy favorite David Taylor, the reigning world and Olympic champion. Brooks defeated Taylor 4-1 in their first bout and then 3-1 to complete the sweep .

Olympian! Aaron Brooks is headed to the 2024 Paris Games

What are Aaron Brooks' chances to win an Olympic medal?

According to FloWrestling, Brooks is ranked No. 1 in his weight class at the Olympics and predicted to capture gold .

Brooks has defeated two medalists from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics — Taylor (gold) and San Marino's Myles Amine (bronze).

In the finals of the 2022 NCAA championships, Brooks captured his second of four national titles with a 5-3 victory over Amine, who wrestled for the University of Michigan.

However, Brooks has never faced Iran's Hassan Yazdani, who is widely considered the favorite for gold. Yazdani, 29, was the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics after winning gold at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. He also won titles at the world championships in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

Although this will be Brooks' first international competition at the senior level, he's a three-time age-group world medalist, capturing U17 gold in 2017 in Greece, U20 silver in 2018 in Slovakia and U23 gold in 2023 in Albania.

Why is Aaron Brooks unseeded for the Olympics?

Of the 16 wrestlers in each weight class at the Olympics, only eight earned seeds, based on points accumulated at the 2023 World Championships, the 2024 Continental Championships, the 2024 Zagreb Open Ranking Series and the 2024 Hungarian Ranking Series.

"I didn't do any of them because I was wrestling the college season," said Brooks, who is unseeded. "A lot of those guys wrestled a lot of them, so they got seeded. But for me, man, I don't really care. Let's just go wrestle. If I'm the best in the world, I'm the best in the world."

The unseeded wrestlers will be randomly drawn into the bracket the day before the competition begins. That means that Brooks could face one of the top-seeded wrestlers, such as Yazdani or Amine, in an early round.

"Wrestling in age-group world championships, it's random draw, so you kind of get used to that when you're going overseas," Brooks said. "You know first round that it could be the finals match or the semis. The first match could be your hardest. You never know so you just approach everything the same."

Olympics are a business trip

Brooks left for France on Monday.

The Paris Olympics opening ceremony is Friday, and the Games continue through Aug. 11.

Brooks said he's not sure if he'll attend the opening ceremony and that he and the other U.S. wrestlers don't plan to spend much time in the Olympic Village.

"We're staying in Normandy," he said. "The only time we'll stay in the village is if we go to the opening ceremony and then right before we wrestle. We'll stay in the village the night before we wrestle."

For most of his time in France, Brooks will be preparing to wrestle, with his two-day competition not happening until late into the second week of the Games.

"It stinks because I'll be getting ready and wrestling towards the end, but I would love to go watch some soccer, some track, basketball, boxing. I'd love to watch all the sports," he said. "I grew up watching the Olympics. I hope to get to see maybe a game or two, but if I'm going to go watch other sports, I'd like to be done with mine."

'Just go do what you do'

Brooks said he's taking nothing for granted at the Olympics, and he's looking forward to soaking it all in, regardless of how it plays out for him.

"I'm blessed," he said. "It's cool, just to look how far I've come. I'm approaching it like, 'Regardless, I'm blessed. Regardless, God loves me. Regardless, my family loves me. Regardless, God willing, I get to wrestle again after this.'

"What happens, happens. It's my job to go out there and glorify the most high and have fun doing that. That's my focus going into the Games, just be present and make the adjustments on the fly, but have fun with it because you never know if you're going to get this again. Why think negative? Why go be cautious? Just go have fun with the moment because life is quick. Just go do what you do."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Wrestler Aaron Brooks trying to stay even-keeled at Olympics