Olympic gold medalist visits USU

Last week, students at Utah State University had the chance to meet an Olympic champion who could bench press most of them.

Thursday, Sept. 29, Olympic gold-medal-winning wrestler Rulon Gardner was in the USU Bookstore to meet fans and sign copies of his new book “Never Stop Pushing.”

Garner said that he wrote the book because so many people have asked to hear his story since he won his gold medal.

It was not, however, Gardner’s first time at USU.

“I actually came here for a quarter,” Gardner said. “I was on a full-ride scholarship, but in 1990 they got rid of the wrestling program and I had to go somewhere else.”

Despite this, Gardner seems to hold no grudge against USU.

“It’s a great school, I had a brother graduate from here,” he said.

Gardner was in the Bookstore for a couple hours and greeted every fan with a handshake and a personal greeting. He would usually chat with them for a few minutes before signing their book or letting them take a picture with him, even letting them hold the gold medal he won in the 2000 Olympics held in Sydney, Australia.

Sports Illustrated and others called his 2000 victory the “Miracle on the Mat” as he defeated Aleksander Karelin. Karelin was a three-time gold medalist and had been undefeated for 13 years leading up to the Sydney games.

According to U.S. Olympic team Web site, after winning gold, Gardner was elected by his fellow athletes to carry the American flag during the closing ceremonies.

In his book Gardner tells the story of how he had his middle toe on his right foot removed after he suffered frostbite as a result of getting lost on a snowmobile trip in 2002.

Even being a toe short, Gardner went on to win the bronze medal in the 2004 Athens games. After the match, he left his shoes on the match, which, according to wrestling tradition, is a signal that a competitor is going to retire from the sport.

Since retiring from competitive wrestling, Gardner has appeared on many different television shows. He is also beginning a career as a motivational speaker and is planning on returning to USU on Nov. 2 to speak as part of this year’s Arts and Lectures series.

“It’ll be about my life about how what I overcame,” Gardner said. “It’s about my seven steps to overcome anything.”

“A lot of people these days are just giving up and not facing challenges,” he said. “But I want to show people another way.”

Besides his schedule as a speaker, Gardner has appeared in movies, fought in and won a Pride Fighting contest and has talked about becoming an announcer for the country’s first professional “amateur” wrestling league.

Gardner has won many awards beyond his two Olympic medals. Some of these include the 2001 ESPY Olympic Athlete of the Year award, United States Olympic Committee Sportsman of the Year and the U.S. Olympic Spirit award.

For a full list of his awards and a complete biography, see Gardner’s Web site, www.rulongardner.com.

-steveshinney@cc.usu.edu

Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner signs a copy of his book, “Never Stop Pushing” for a fan in the USU Bookstore Thursday afternoon.