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Penn State Wrestling Great Aaron Brooks Has Olympic Eligibility Questioned

Originally posted on Nittany Sports Now | By Joe Smeltzer | Last updated 5/7/24

Penn State wrestling legend Aaron Brooks is coming off the biggest night of his career, but a few weeks after Brooks qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games at the U.S. Wrestling Trials in State College, a troubling report surfaced.

“It has been revealed that our 86kg Olympic rep Aaron Brooks allegedly failed testing at last year’s u23 world tournament where he won Gold (for Adderall, not exactly a PED),” Pat Mineo, founder of The Wrestling Room, posted to X (formerly Twitter) Monday afternoon. “There was apparently an issue or error with reporting the script and some red tape came up. He received a temporary waiver to compete at trials and will not know if he’s suspended (or what a suspension may look like) until the end of the week. Apparently, lawyers are confident they can get the full approval but as of now, he’s still in limbo.”

Mineo sent two additional posts.

“The hope is for a retroactive suspension (if one is given) that would count as time served,” he wrote. “The kicker is apparently DT was never directly told any of this by his people at PSU…

“I hope it’s patched up,” he wrote. They are working on the proper filings to make sure it gets cleared up in time. As the post states, this wasn’t something egregious, but the reporting processes seem very tedious when it comes to this stuff.

“Again, I hope it works out.”

I hope it’s patched up- they are working on the proper filings to make sure it gets cleared up in time. As the post states this wasn’t something egregious, but the reporting processes seem very tedious when it comes to this stuff.

Again, I hope it works out. https://t.co/JFKh149GTD

— The Wrestling Room (Pat Mineo) (@MrPatMineo) May 6, 2024

Nittany Sports Now reached out to a USA Wrestling spokesperson regarding this report.

“We are aware of the recent posts online concerning Aaron Brooks,” the spokesperson responded to NSN via email. “USA Wrestling does not comment on anything concerning drug testing, as this is a process handled by other organizations.”

USA Wrestling also confirmed with Nittany Sports Now that, as Mineo reported, fellow Penn State wrestling great David Taylor would be in line to be the country’s representative at 86 kg if Brooks isn’t able to go to Paris. It’s been an interesting few weeks for Taylor, known as the “Magic Man.” Taylor, who won the Gold at 86 kg in 2021, lost the chance to defend his title by falling to Brooks twice in a row during a best-of-three series at the Olympic Trials, held at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center.

Although Taylor still hasn’t announced his retirement, he shocked a lot of people this week by accepting the head coaching job at Oklahoma State. He’ll succeed two-time gold medalist John Smith. Smith held the post for three decades and led his alma mater to five team national championships.

Nittany Sports Now will update Brooks’ status once new information becomes available.

This article first appeared on Nittany Sports Now and was syndicated with permission.

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