Word: gardner
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Gardner, 29, an unorthodox wrestler, pressed up against Karelin, 33, to prevent the Russian from using the Karelin Lift, his signature move. No points were scored in the first round. During the second round, Karelin amazingly unclenched his hold, which earned Gardner a point under Greco-Roman rules. Shocked judges reviewed the videotape of the moment. "He made a mistake, and I got a lucky call," said Gardner, who explained that the seeming impossibility of winning allowed him to grapple more conservatively. "He was the one who had to go out and win the gold medal. I would have been...
...Gardner has the aw-shucks routine down pat. "I didn't think I could beat him. But I grew up on a farm where you just go forward and get the job done," he said. "Even though I wasn't thinking I was going to win, I was going to work as hard as I could." The only other time the two met, in a 1997 world-championship round, Karelin obliterated him. "When he threw me, my feet almost hit the back of my head. That's not a good thing," he recalled...
...Gardner's profile makes Rocky look polished. The youngest of nine, who was teased in grade school for his freakish size, he gained his strength by working on his parents' dairy farm every day after school. "By the end of high school, I was carrying four bales of hay, a hundred pounds each, just walking with them," he said. After making the Olympic squad, he raised some $25,000 from Afton locals for the family trip to Sydney...
...F.O.P. (friend of Putin). Still, without the politico-global resonance, the Miracle on the Mat will never get the attention of the U.S. hockey squad's 1980 victory over the U.S.S.R. "I hate to bring politics into wrestling. It's two great wrestlers from two good countries," said Gardner right after the match. "Karelin is a world-class individual. I told him, 'You're still the best. There's nobody close to as good as you are.'" It almost makes you long for the Cuban missile crisis...
...RULON GARDNER Wrestler upsets Russian in best Olympic moment. Whom will he endorse for President...