Rulon Gardner has been to hell and heaven over the past seven years, and now he is ascending once again. For those of you not familiar with this man, you should be. First of all, the man is nearly 300 pounds; he’s hard to miss. More importantly, he did the unthinkable at Sydney in the 2000 Olympic Games: he beat Superman.
Well, it’s about as close to Superman as you can get. Gardner was the heavyweight wrestler for the United States, and it was his task to take on three-time Olympic champion Alexander Karelin from Russia. Karelin is one of those guys people refer to when they say they eat little children. Not Tyson, Karelin.
Karelin hadn’t tasted defeat in 13 years, hadn’t lost a point in a decade, and had manhandled Gardner years earlier. These are the moments when miracles are born.
The match in itself was rather boring. The two giants battled back and forth, with Gardner being called three times for being passive, which opened the door for Karelin to score. He never did. Karelin had his hands gripped behind Gardner when they broke apart. Under a new rule, Gardner was awarded one point.
A slip of the hands — two, maybe three inches of separation — and Superman was down. It was at that point that the most dominant athlete in Olympic history fell. Gardner, who had missed the weigh-in for the 1996 Olympic trials by seconds, was now on top of the world. Propelled by what some have called the “miracle on the mat,” Gardner would continue to train for the 2004 games. Only two years later, his entire wrestling career would be thrown into question.
Gardner was out on his snowmobile with friends when he became stuck following a friend up a ridge. While riding the ridge, he hit two large water holes and became soaked in the 30-degree weather.
He decided to go down to the Salt River and follow it back home. On multiple occasions, Gardner was flipped into the water. Soaked, freezing, and running out of options, he decided to ditch the snowmobile and try to get out on foot.
The situation only got worse as four feet of snow slowed Gardner’s attempts at returning home. Night fell, and he made his way to a stand of trees, where he lay down. Falling in and out of consciousness, Gardner could hear his rescuers but was unable to respond.
The next morning, he tried to leave but could only move a few feet. Just like the few inches of separation that brought victory against Karelin, the few feet he moved that morning were enough for a rescue helicopter to see him. Seventeen hours in 25 below zero Celsius conditions had dropped Gardner’s body temperature to 88 degrees, and doctors were sawing the boots off of his feet. His toes were as hard as concrete, and the initial prognosis was amputation.
In a matter of hours, a lifetime of work was threatened. The cheerful and always smiling Rulon now had to face the prospect of never wrestling again. Rulon would have none of it. Intensive treatment saved nine of his toes. Still, it was months before he could consider returning to the mat.
Fast forward to 2003. A year and a half later, Gardner found himself in the finals of the Pan-American Games, verifying his comeback and solidifying his spot as one of the world’s premier wrestlers. He still has his sight set on Athens and is a favorite to repeat.
Gardner is the type of individual who embodies success and determination. Sometimes the best role models stay in the shadows away from the limelight. The lessons they bring to life are more often than not by example. We could all learn a little if we took a journey down Rulon road.
Derek Montgomery ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism and political science.
