When you think of wrestling you probably think of the Glitz and Glamour of the WWE with over the top personalities, soap-opera story lines and acrobatic moves. You'll likely think of people such as Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena, Ric Flair and Sting. However not all wrestling is "Professional".As fans of the Olympics will know there is also "Amateur wrestling". Although there are several types of amateur wrestling the two most well known styles are "Freestyle" which allows use of the legs and "Greco-Roman" which doesn't allow the use of the legs. It was the Greco-Roman style that brought us wrestling's biggest ever upset as Rulon Gardner defeated Russian Alexander Karelin for the Gold medal in the Sydney Olympics.
Alexander Karelin was seen by many as being genuinely unbeatable. Since making his international debut in 1987 he had destroyed everyone in his wake as he claimed title after title and was unbeaten for 13 years, he hadn't conceded a pointed in 6 of those (1994-2000). His trophy collection was unbelievable with an amazing 12 European Championships (everyone from 1988 to 2000), 9 World Championships (winning everyone between 1989 and 1999) and 3 Olympic Gold Medals (1988, 1992 and 1996).
Not only was Karelin unbeaten on the mat but he was also a bit of a physical freak (in the most complimentary fashion possible) he was 6'3" of solid muscle and power. His power was so freakish that he could lift 130lb men around like ragdolls and toss them to the mat with ease often using his spectacular "Karelin Lift" to dominate rivals. His nickname of "The Experiment" seemed to sum things up pretty well, he looked like he was the result of a fantastic Russian experiment to create the perfect wrestler.
On the opposite side of the mat we had American Rulon Gardner. Gardner had been a very solid Greco-Roman wrestler in his own right but had only really had notable success in the US. Amongst his biggest achievements were 2 National titles (1996, 1997) though he did win some international trophies though of a much lesser degree to the World and European titles held by Karelin.
Karelin got to the 2000 Olympic Final with out dropping a point, he had been his usual unbeatable self and defeated the Silver and Bronze medal winners from the 1999 World Championships. Gardener however had surprised everyone by managing to reach the final himself and beating the 1998 World Championship Bronze medal winner Yuri Evseitchik, although Evseitchik had taken Garnder all the way to a very close 3-2 bout.
In the opening period Karelin came close to using his patented lift but the doughy looking Gardner managed to fight it off as period finished 0-0. Around 30 seconds into the second period Karelin's grip slipped from a clince, this slip lead to not only large gasps from all those in attendance but also a point for Gardner. This put the American 1-0 up against a man who hadn't conceded a point in years. Gardner then had to hold on, not only for the remaining 2 minutes 30 seconds of the second period but also for 3 minutes of overtime, something he impressively managed to do to claim the gold medal.
Following the Sydney Olympics Karelin moved into politics where he has continued success. Gardner however failed to take over from the great man and despite winning the 2001 World Championship Gold medal and a Bronze in the 2004 Olympics his success seems to have been off the mat. Not only has Gardner been featured on The Biggest Loser but he has also been an analyst for NBC Sports at the 2008 Olympics.
Picture is thanks to Joshua C. Millage and features Rulon Gardner in the centre flanked by two U.S. Navy Dental Technicians.
No comments:
Post a Comment