Hey, wrestling fans! Buckle up because I’m about to take you on a trip into the journey to stardom of American wrestler Aaron Brooks. If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard of him yet, here’s the scoop. He totally stunned everyone at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials back in April when he knocked off reigning Olympic champ David Taylor, ending his crazy seven-year unbeaten streak!

Pretty wild, right? Now this 24-year-old phenom is gearing up to take on the World stage at the Paris Olympics in the 86 kg weight class. But hold on—there’s way more to Aaron than just his insane skills on the mat. Let’s dig a little deeper into his life and have a chat about this possible Paris medallist.

Where is Brooks from?

On 15 June 2000 Aaron Brooks was born to his parents John Brooks and Ranelle Boyd. He’s got an older brother, Isaiah—yep, the pro-MMA fighter you might’ve heard of! Fast forward a bit, their folks split up and remarried, so now Aaron’s got two step-brothers from his dad’s side and a stepsister from his mom’s side. He proudly reps his African American roots and was born in Hagerstown, Maryland—so he’s definitely American through and through.

Both John and Ranelle are also U.S. citizens further solidifying his American roots. Standing tall at 6 feet 6 inches (that’s one big dude!), Aaron really started showing off his wrestling skills while he was at North Hagerstown High School. He crushed it thereby snagging four NHSCA National Championships and four MPSSAA state titles! But that wasn’t even the half of it.

He kept the momentum going in college by becoming a four-time NCAA champ as well as a Big Ten Conference champ four times too! On top of all that success, Aaron Brooks brought home gold at the Cadet World Championships back in 2017—definitely put him on the map internationally! Now he’s gearing up for what could be the biggest challenge yet: the Paris Olympics. But getting here hasn’t been smooth sailing; there were some bumps along the way that caught him off guard.

Aaron Brooks’ father on his son making his way to the Olympics

So, Aaron Brooks snagged a spot in the Paris Olympics by beating David Taylor at the Olympic Trials. But wait—did he actually? That’s where things got a little messy after he ran into some testing troubles at the U23 World Tournament, throwing his Olympic dreams into question. There was some mix-up with reporting and paperwork, but thankfully he managed to get a temporary waiver to compete in the trials.

The good news? Everything ended up being sorted out! And if there’s anyone who couldn’t be happier about it, it’s Aaron’s dad, John Brooks. He hopped on X to share this awesome message: “This guy is cleared and heading to Paris! Bring it home AB.” And he sure is heading there now. As fans, we’re all rooting for him to overcome those bumps in the road and snag that gold medal!