![]() “Some people are happy to work a nine-to-five job, but I’m wired differently. “In terms of stuff outside of wrestling, I definitely have a lot more on my plate than most other athletes at this level," he told Baschamania Podcast On top of preparing to win Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020, he nurtures the next generation of wrestlers at his M2 Training Center, has a wrestling clothing company and helps his wife run K2 Roots - a health-juice business. Taylor may be one of wrestling's biggest stars right now, but he is far more than just an athlete. "Learning that over the past eight years is what has allowed be to truly become the best in the world." If you can do that, I can teach you all the techniques to be successful,’ Taylor said of the same philosophy he now teaches his students. ‘Your number one test of mental toughness is not not let anyone go behind you. ![]() ![]() Essentially, this meant never giving up when losing the round or being overpowered. While he worked on his strength in the gym, his influential coach Casey Cunningham taught him to overcome that weakness that with mental fortitude, and Taylor's now hallmark ‘fight’. I couldn’t grab legs and pull them in," he told the What Got You There podcast. My whole entire life I was actually quite weak. "I was always very talented in terms of my wrestling skill, but I was never strong. While he boasts an accomplished record as a junior wrestler, his victories were based around superior technique due to his lack of strength. With bulging muscles and an athletic physique, Taylor looks exactly like a wrestling world champion should. Visualisation still plays a huge role for Taylor, who keeps his goals written down on his phone screen saver. I wanted to be the best,” he told the Colorado Springs Gazette. “Whenever it got tough, it always came back to that. “When I was a young kid I always had big dreams, and I’ve always been a visionary,” Taylor says. When Taylor moved up a division, he suffered the same fate in 2016 against Kyle Dake, and in 2017 against Olympic bronze medallist J'den Cox.īut Taylor persevered and at 27, made his first world team after the number of weight classes was expanded from eight to 10 at the world championships, before eventually taking the gold medal. He finished either second or third in the 2013, 20 world championships team trials at 74kg, a weight-class dominated by Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs. This hopeful manifestation was tested while he was in his 20s, as he constantly came up against stumbling blocks in the extremely competitive United States wrestling environment. 3 - Taylor the visionaryĪs an 8-year-old in Wyoming, Taylor wrote down his life’s goals, one of which was to become an Olympic gold medallist in wrestling. Olympic Trials at 86kg, take a look at some less-known facts about the 'Magic Man' below.ĭavid Taylor on the podium after winning 86kg gold at the 2018 wrestling world championships in Budapest, Hungary. While Taylor remains the heavy favourite to win the U.S. In recent weeks, the Nevada-born grappler has been embroiled in a war of words with London 2012 Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs over who is their nation's best, and it looks as if the two alpha males will lock horns in an exhibition match at some point in December to settle the beef. But wrestling fans wanting to see Taylor tested against the best may still be in luck. In March, he qualified USA's place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after a comfortable gold medal-winning performance at the Pan-American Olympic Qualifiers in Canada.įollowing the COVID 19-enforced lockdown, the two-time NCAA champion's aggressive style was back on full display in July, when he crushed Myles Martin 11-0 in an exhibition match.ĭue to the ongoing pandemic, there will be no American athletes at the 2020 Wrestling World Championships in December. ![]() David Taylor is one of the most exciting names in freestyle wrestling right now.Īfter almost a year out of the sport in 2019 with a serious knee injury, the 2018 world champion at 86kg appears to be back to his best.
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