Olympic gold medal wrestler Kyle Snyder was among 16 men arrested and charged for his alleged involvement in a prostitution ring in Columbus, Ohio, according to local police.
Snyder, 29, who wrestled at Ohio State from 2015-18, responded to an ad posted online by Columbus police for escort services. He called and texted to answer one of the ads on Friday, May 9, according to Sgt. Joe Albert. Snyder allegedly paid an undercover officer cash to solicit a sex act and was arrested on the scene.
During his freestyle wrestling career, Snyder won two Olympic medals. He earned gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Snyder also competed at the 2024 Paris Games and finished in fourth place.
Kyle Snyder with the bomb, and he’s into the semis pic.twitter.com/SmqVZlK33x
— fredy (@5troker) August 21, 2016
At Ohio State, Snyder won three consecutive Big Ten and NCAA championships from 2016-18 competing as a heavyweight. In 2015, he was also part of a team conference championship with the Buckeyes. In 2016, Snyder earned a “triple crown,” winning the World, NCAA and Olympic championships as the youngest wrestler to ever accomplish that feat.
During a very accomplished career, Snyder also won three gold medals at both the Pan Am Games and World Championshps, and finished first seven times at the Pan Am Championships. In 2024, Snyder was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.
Following his fourth-place finish in Paris, Snyder told the Columbus Dispatch that he intended to continue wrestling internationally and was training at Penn State under legendary wrestler and coach Cael Sanderson, with an eye on competing in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Snyder recently signed with the Real American Freestyle Wrestling league, which will launch in August under commissioner Hulk Hogan and chief media officer Eric Bischoff. He briefly expressed interest in pursuing a mixed martial arts career, but abandoned that to continue his plans for the 2028 Olympics.
