Olympic Moments: Rulon Gardner

Okay, so there's this guy named Alexander Karelin. He's a giant Russian wrestler who looks like he'd swallow your cat whole and then spit out a collar. His nickname is The General. And the General marched into the 2000 Olympics assuming he was winning the gold medal in Greco Roman Wrestling, because he had been undefeated since 1985. Fifteen years! And no one had scored a single point against him in six years - to put that in context, it's the equivalent of a baseball pitcher throwing a perfect game in every start for an entire season. That's how amazing The General was in his sport.

Then, out of a nowhere, came a Wyoming farm boy named Rulon. Olympic Moment? You bet your David & Goliath ass this is an Olympic Moment.



Bonus: His wife’s teary phone call to home after the match “He won. Can you believe that? He won. Call everybody.”

Oh - and then in 2004, he qualified for the Olympics again. When he won a bronze medal, he gave the traditional wrestling retirement speech. He sat on the mat, untied his shoes, and left them inside the circle. All while crying and receiving a standing ovation. If anyone can find that video and send it to me, I'd love to post it!