Olympic champion Kyle Snyder to focus on ‘Lord Jesus and family' after prostitution arrest
Olympic wrestling champion Kyle Snyder has made his first public statement since his arrest in an Ohio prostitution sting last week.
In a post on X on Wednesday, the 29-year-old said he would lean on his faith and family, but did not directly address his arrest. 'I want to thank everyone who has reached out with kindness and support. My focus is on my relationship with the Lord Jesus and my family. This is not conclusion of my journey. 1 Peter 4:17-18,' he wrote.
Advertisement
The bible passage he referenced reads: 'For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?'
Snyder's arrest came after during a police operation aimed at reducing prostitution in Columbus, Ohio. Snyder was arrested in a hotel room for engaging in prostitution. He was released from custody at the scene, and is due to appear in court on 19 May.
Columbus police spokesperson Caitlyn McIntosh said officers had posted online ads to 'solicit others to engage in sexual activity for hire'. Police said a man later identified as Snyder had replied to one of the postings and arranged to meet at a local hotel. Once there he paid money to an undercover officer and requested sexual services. Police said 15 other men were caught in the sting.
Snyder is considered one of the best wrestlers of his generation, and was a college star at Ohio State, located in Columbus. While still at college he won an Olympic gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics. In college, he won three straight NCAA heavyweight titles between 2016 and 2018, and was later inducted into Ohio State's athletics hall of fame. He also won an Olympic silver at the Tokyo Games in 2021 along with three world championship titles.
Advertisement
In 2018, Donald Trump appointed Snyder to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. This month Snyder signed up to Hulk Hogan's Real American Freestyle wrestling league, which is due to start in August.
Snyder has spoken of the importance of his faith in the past. '[God has] given me his spirit who lives inside me so I can live this way. Any accolades I acquire in this life are meaningless, but the growth I experience spiritually is what means the most,' Snyder told Sports Spectrum Magazine in 2019.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Refinery29
19 minutes ago
- Refinery29
One Day Of Rugby Taught Me To Stop Chasing Perfection & Start Showing Up
I remember growing up when the most popular high school sports for girls were track and field, volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball, cheerleading and cross-country. But Rugby? It was never even part of the conversation. So when I was asked to participate in an Olympic training experience with the United States women's national rugby sevens team, I didn't hesitate. I was all in. Admittedly, I was nervous. However, that changed the moment I received the roster and recognized not one but two women who looked like me. Two Black women, smiling from ear to ear, standing tall as part of an Olympic history-making team. My anxiousness gave way to curiosity and pride. Rugby has long been perceived as a predominately white sport. A 2020 report by The Guardian found that fewer than 8% of players identified as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background. And if you isolate that figure to solely Black athletes? The percentage drops even lower. With representation so limited, the challenge isn't just physical—it's mental. It's knowing you're one of the few. It's pushing your body to its limits while also carrying the invisible weight of visibility. But it's also a gift to compete, to create space and to reshape the narrative in real time. As two-time Olympian and Bronze medalist Ariana Ramsey reminded me after training during a lunch hosted by Quest Nutrition, "Great and hard work shapes you into the athlete you're meant to be. Your willingness to go to practice every day and be consistent is a life skill you'll always need and use." Those words stuck with me because, as a Black woman athlete, or in my case, a journalist, showing up is only half the battle. It's never just about the game or profession; it's about rewriting what's possible, even when the narrative was never written with us—Black women and many others from historically marginalized backgrounds—in mind. Is it about being seen? Yes, absolutely, but it's also more than that; the older I get, the more I realize it's about making sure the next little brown girl sees herself, too. Being in the center of it all at Chula Vista Elite Training Center, one of the top Olympic training campuses in the country, the game itself challenged every physical limit I thought I knew. It was exciting, yes, but it also sparked something deeper. It created an internal shift from imposter syndrome to embodied power. I began to understand that true strength in all forms isn't just about physical ability. I missed a few kicks. My athleticism definitely didn't kick in the way I hoped. And when it was time to race, did I come in first place? Absolutely not. (laughs) But the real win had nothing to do with numbers. It was in letting go of the mental chains, silencing the inner critic and quieting the outside noise that sometimes held me back (and at times continues to do so) in my everyday life. The silent whispers of discouragement, defeat or doubt. The lingering question of 'What if I'm not enough?' What if things don't go as I planned? "What if I'm not ready or live up to the expectation?" That day, I didn't just show up on the field. I pushed through the noise. And not only did I show up for Dontaira K. Terrell in her full entirety—I proved something to myself and no one else. Even if I didn't make the field goal, land the tackle or run my fastest race—I laughed through it all. No pressure. I was present. I enjoyed the moment. I took what I couldn't do and turned it into a lesson, not a curveball. ' When everyone else seems to be gaining momentum, racking up wins or living their so-called best lives, it can leave you crashing out and wondering, ' What about me?' ' It took time to get here. For so long, I carried the weight of trying to be perfect. To be a winner. To overachieve, no matter the cost. That pressure has caused me more harm than good. But letting go of those limiting beliefs? That was the freedom. Who cared if I didn't catch on as quickly as the person next to me? That was the push I didn't know I needed. If I'm honest, I grew up in a household of excellence. College-educated parents. High-achieving siblings. World travelers. Trophy winners. My older sisters aren't just entrepreneurs and businesswomen—two are attorneys, and one is an audiologist (in fact, the first Black woman to receive a Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) degree in the Midwest). So, as you can imagine, anything less than my best never felt like an option. "Growing up, I worked really hard but didn't immediately see the payout, so it kind of made me feel like what I was doing wasn't worth it," American rugby union player Nia Toliver said, reflecting on the advice she'd give to her younger self. "But when I think about where I am now, it's because of the work I put in. It was a long-term gain—not immediate success." Talk about words that resonated. In today's society—from television to TikTok, Instagram and everything in between it's easy to feel like you're falling behind. When everyone else seems to be gaining momentum, racking up wins or living their so-called best lives, it can leave you crashing out and wondering, ' What about me?' We're in a microwavable culture. Everything looks instant. But real success? Real alignment? It takes time. And that's why I've had to learn to separate the two to put things into perspective. Just as Maya Angelou reminded us: 'All great achievements require time.' That's why I'm adamant about celebrating the small wins. They're the proof of grit, grind and perseverance behind closed doors. The effort you're putting in when no one is watching. When the applause is quiet. When the likes on the 'Gram are few and far between. I know firsthand that those moments are the hardest. It's about reframing the narrative: you don't have to be perfect, but you do have to keep going and keep showing up. After spending the day with the team, when it came time to leave the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Site, another realization struck me. The roles of coaches, sports psychologists, team nutritionists, personal trainers and the list goes on in rugby mirrored something I've come to understand in my own life: your support system matters just as much as your skill set. If you want to win at anything on the field or in real life, let me tell you, that foundation has to be solid. That encouragement, that accountability, that belief in you when you're doubting yourself? That kind of support is top-tier because no matter how gifted you are, you can't do it alone. To win in this thing called life, both on and off the playing field, you need people who help you stay in the game, even when life is doing the absolute most.
New York Times
28 minutes ago
- New York Times
In 2025 FCS football, the Dakotas or everybody else? Plus CFB news
Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic's college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox. Today in college football news, 'Return of the Jedi' might be the funniest post-'Andor' rewatch of all. With everything that's been sacrificed and everything at stake, your plan is to … demonstrate some sick backflips in front of Jabba? Everyone here, except the warrior-hearted Ewoks, would drive Luthen berserk. Around this time each year, every college football outlet begins some sort of season preview series, and Until Saturday is no exception. There will be no consistent outline to these, and if I were to start handing out superlative categories, I'd forget to do them at some point. I do not have any Phil Steele-style acronyms yet, but maybe I'll invent some. We're just gonna wing it. Let's start it off by going a little broader than just FBS, even though there isn't exactly space to dig into each Division III conference's 2025 schedule. (Then again, this parenthetical is now the newsletter's third mention this year of Middlebury College.) Just to have it all in one place, here are the defending champs in these NCAA levels — and as you can see, repeats would not be shocking: Beyond the who's-gonna-win basics, though: Considering the amount of national attention usually paid to college sports outside of Division I's upper levels, it feels urgent to check in on the big-picture status of small schools in The NIL And Portal Era. So I asked a couple-ish questions to Matt Brown (no relation to The Athletic's Matt Brown, though they have hung out at Big Ten media days, per sources), the proprietor of Extra Points, an excellent newsletter digging into loads of off-field stories about college sports from the NAIA on up. (This includes Matt's extensive coverage of the video game.) Over the past five years or so, how has life generally changed for athletic directors in levels outside of FBS? Matt: 'Being a small-school AD has always been a tough gig, because smaller staff sizes require you to be more involved in everything from fundraising to hiring and coach development. In the NIL era, the job had become even harder — because now you have to pretend you have the donor support to justify a meaningful collective, and your players can leave faster. That isn't to say it's all bad, but a lot of folks aren't sleeping as well as they used to.' What about when it comes to football in particular? 'The thing that's tougher about football is that the roster is so much larger. If a third of your basketball roster transfers, that really sucks, but that's four people. In football, that's like 28 dudes, people who then have to be replaced during a very truncated recruiting cycle. That puts even more pressure on your coaches and donors, and makes sustaining success much harder. Winning the league is awesome, but if it means seven of your starters bounce for the ACC, it takes a toll on everybody.' If you had to take either The Dakotas or Everybody Else to win the FCS title this year: Who ya got? 'Few people have ever gone broke betting on the Dakotas to win a national title.' Hey, follow Matt on Bluesky here. Poll time! Same question for you: Dakotas or non-Dakotas for this season's FCS title? As for me and my house, once again we will ride with the pride of the beautiful Big Sky Conference, the Montana State Bobcats, who fell just short of the title in Frisco, Texas last year. They're No. 2 behind NDSU in the early FCS top 25s by Hero Sports and Flo Football, with 2023 champ South Dakota State and the rapidly emerging South Dakota right behind. (North Dakota unleaded is currently the local straggler.) Up next week: Conference USA and the MAC. 🎮 Who's gonna be the first College Football 26 team you try out? Fifteen recommendations here. (In Dynasty Mode, I'm eying either Pitbull Stadium's FIU or Missouri State, likely the weaker of the two FBS newcomers, as my fixer-upper. Delaware, you're too powerful to be considered.) ⏰ 'Three-fourths of the players taken in the draft over the last five years played for only one college program. That number, however, is decreasing.' Manny Navarro with lots of things 2020s NFL Drafts can teach us about modern college football. Advertisement 🐶 'We thought we were on the same page. What was that?' The Big Ten and SEC: currently the dogs that both caught the same car, by Ralph Russo. 💎 Texas Tech softball pitcher NiJaree Canady, a legit breakout star. Final game of the Women's College World Series against Texas is tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. 📰 Legal news: Remember a few months ago, when CFB social media erupted for a few hours with stories of UNLV allegedly being unable to actually pay new head coach Dan Mullen's contract? Not quite, per AD Erick Harper in our new story on the Rebels: 'Harper responded (to a question) that the school had the funds to pay the first two years of Mullen's contract, then watched national reports fixate on that answer as an implication that the school had promised Mullen more than it could afford to pay over the final three years. 'Harper shoulders the blame for not being more direct in his explanation, saying he has 'zero fear' the athletic department will have trouble fulfilling any coaching contracts on the books. '… 'What was missed is the fact I said, 'and we also generate ticket sales, donor contributions, multimedia rights partners with Learfield, all those self-generated revenues that pay for salaries.'' UNLV, long considered college football's biggest sleeping giant outside the power conferences, has been in a lot of news over the last year. Plenty more in that story, along with all the details about the Rebels' geography that make you wonder all over again: Why has this football program so rarely succeeded? Thank you for reading, as always, and hit me up at untilsaturday@ 📫 Love Until Saturday? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
2025 U.S. Nationals: 16-year-old swimmer Luka Mijatovic sets two new records with historic 400m freestyle
Luka Mijatovic continues to set records at the U.S. Nationals. (Photo by) Luka Mijatovic continues to turn heads at the U.S. Nationals. A few days after breaking a record previously set by Michael Phelps, the 16-year-old Mijatovic was at it again Friday. This time around, Mijatovic decided to break his own record in the 400m freestyle. Mijatovic turned in a 3:45.89 performance, beating his previous record — which he set in March — by three seconds. That time not only set a new record for the 15-16 age group, but also broke a record for the 17-18 age group. Larsen Jensen previously held the record in the 17-18 age group with a 3:46.08 that he set in 2004. Advertisement Mijatovic accomplished the same feat Wednesday in the 200m freestyle. He swam the event in 1:45.92, breaking the record in the 15-16 age group. That figure also broke the record in the 17-18 age group, which was previously held by Phelps. The sky appears to be the limit for Mijatovic, who is considered the top high-school swimmer in California. Mijatovic was already a name to watch for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. His performance at the U.S. Nationals — which began Tuesday — further solidified his status as an Olympic-hopeful. The 2025 U.S. Swimming Championships will run through Saturday at the Indiana University Natatorium. A number of Americans, including Katie Ledecky and Bobby Finke, have turned in fantastic performances at the event. Winners of individual events will qualify for the World Championships in July and August.
