AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
By Jay Kernis
Rock Center
UPDATED 4/24/12 1:40PM ET One month ago, Rock Center's Harry Smith told the Impossible Dream story of Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner, who won an Olympic gold medal in 2000 by defeating the Russian legend Alexander Karelin, and a bronze medal four years later.
He retired at the end of his 2004 match and then ballooned to 474 pounds—and facing potentially serious health problems—signed on to be a contestant on NBC's The Biggest Loser. But he quit the reality series last year—and at age 40, decided he wanted one more shot at the Olympics to be held this summer in London.
The U.S. Olympic Team Trials were held this past weekend in Iowa City, but Gardner ended up not competing for the one heavyweight position. Before he could face American opponents on the mat, he had to weigh less than 264.5 pounds. He could not make weight and didn't show up at the official Friday weigh-in.
In an e-mail to Rock Center, Gardner wrote, "I was within 5 lbs and it wasn't meant to be. I pushed hard this morning, a little too hard, but as in life, we never know until we try. My goal was health with (my wife) Kamie and I now have that."
At a news conference this past Saturday, Gardner further explained his decision.
"I pushed myself for about a hard hour and I still had about six and a half hours before weigh-ins," Gardner said. "I started feeling pretty uncomfortable. I didn't feel good about it. I didn't feel good. I said, 'We've got to slow it down.' My body was to the point of saying it's time. I remember sitting there thinking, 'Is it worth it? Is it worth it?' I didn't come here to prove I'm still an Olympic gold medalist. I came here to prove I still have the heart of a champion."
In an e-mail to Rock Center, Greco-Roman head coach Steve Fraser said Friday morning was tough.
"Rulon called me a few hours before the weigh-in. He had been working out throughout the morning with one of my volunteer coaches helping him. Rulon apologized to me and said he had given it his best shot but got to a point (5 lbs over) where he felt he couldn't go any further. He was hurting and it was emotional. I told him I was proud of him and reassured him that we loved him. He has accomplished so much in Greco during his great career. I told him his good health is what is the most important thing now. And encouraged him to work to keep this weight off and be healthy. We need him around."
When Harry visited Gardner at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs last month, his weight was very much on his mind, and everyone else's.
HARRY SMITH: What do you weigh now?
RULON GARDNER: That's a question I get asked-- um, every day.
Even his coaches wanted to know what number would pop-up when Gardner agreed to allow our camera into the locker room. For reasons only Gardner knows, he would not turn on the scale or show us what he weighed.
SMITH: I think you turned it off!
GARDNER: (Laughs) You caught that?
When Harry spoke with Gardner, he was at least 30 pounds overweight. But he was working out morning and night and vowed he would make weight in time for the trials.
The heavyweight position was won this past weekend by U.S. Army Sgt.1st Class Dremiel Byers, who came in seventh at the 2008 Olympics. For many years, Gardner had competed against and trained with Byers, the only U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler to win gold, silver and bronze medals at the World Championships.
Gardner says he wants to stay involved with USA Wrestling, help other wrestlers prepare for the London Games, and keep working out to stay in shape and not regain the weight again.
Coach Steve Fraser told Harry that even if Gardner did not earn a place on the team, his presence in Colorado Springs made the other Greco-Roman athletes work harder. In his e-mail to us, he said, "Rulon accomplished a lot in my mind. For himself he got his life back on track and has better purpose and better health. He went 100% at trying to make this goal happen. Yes, he fell a bit short but gave all he had. He says he wants to help Byers prepare this summer to win his Olympic medal now. And I know he will. As for helping others? He set an example of great work ethic and total commitment. Something all wrestlers can learn from."
Fraser added, "Rulon Gardner is one special human being!"
Editor's Note: Harry Smith's report, 'The Heavyweight,' originally aired Mar. 21 on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Leave a Comment:
It is too bad that he did not make weight. It would have been great to see him make a comeback. To get within five pounds and not make it must have been heartbreaking for him. It is good to see him keep a positive attitude and want to help others on the US team to succeed in London. In any case, the US will be very well represented by Byers. Hopefully Gardner can help Byers with his preparation and Byers can bring back gold for the US team.
I am not sure i'd want his help, he's proven over and over again he cant follow through on what he says he plans to do.
Dont get me wrong, most of us fall into this place time and time again ourselves.
But we arent going on national tv making all sorts of claims, and then continously falling short of them and not showing our face when we fail.
I wish Byers the best of luck, and hope that Byers actually can finish what he starts...unlike Gardner.
@Jessica-1170252 I'd love to hear who you would allow to help you in your hypothetical Olympic bid. What sport was it again that you feel you're anywhere near Olympic level? It's very easy to internet-critique someone for falling short of goals--proclaimed or not--but we're talking Olympic goals, not couch to 5k goals. The man competed at the Olympic level and medalled. The fact of the matter is wrestling ain't curling. He not only had to make weight but be able to compete in an extreme physical sport at that weight. I'm sure he could have kept cutting and made weight but wouldn't have been able in a position to take on Byers.
I'll play your game, and make the fairly safe assumption that you've never done anything nearly as intense as wrestling. I'd bet any of the athletes at your local high school could almost literally tie you in a knot, so how about you ease off someone who has faced challenges that are orders of magnitude more difficult.
Five pounds short? Liar, Liar, ....
Kinda like when he "nearly died" while skimming down on Lake Powell. He bragged to the interviewer on a late nite news show I was watching that he and the pilot were "skimming" but when the feds started investigating the crash he denied that he was involved in any such thing. Whether he was or not - one story was a lie.
If he was only five pounds short why was he not willing to share that info with Harry?
I have a lot of respect for Rulon. He has proven to all of us that we can come back again and again, no matter how many times we screw up. If you want to be so judgmental that a person who screws up is not entitled to try to come back, then that's your problem. It just means that when you screw up, and you will, then you won't allow yourself to even try to come back. So have fun at the bottom!
He claims that he wants to prove he has "The heart of a champion"?
Dude you are a quitter!You proved this on "Loser". You have had your 15 minutes of fame, now get over yourself and move on and grow up!
Dumb comment, from a closed minded individual. He didn't quit "Loser", he stopped the program to pursue this dream. So get over yourself and let people live their lives. If he can help others become champions he's furthered his cause more than your pathetic comments will.
"He didn't quit, he just stopped." You have no idea what you are talking about.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/blogs/pop_culture_blog/biggest_loser/the-biggest-loser-season-week-recap-gold-medal-mess-or/article_0c2925e0-7040-11e0-b00b-0019bb30f31a.html
Pursued what dream? The dream of quitting? What a fantasy!
Yes, he's "down" now, so go ahead and kick the man?
He did quit biggest loser. He did not even show up at the finale. He took a spot that someone could have actually used. Now when the pressure is on he quit again.
AGREED!!!
he didnt quit biggest loser= he was disqualified for sneaking food and cell phones onto the campus and they gave him the option of "quitting" to save face
This is a guy with many complex issues to deal with. He has had many failed relationships in his life and seems to think the only way to prove yourself is by setting unachievable milestones to test your limits. I would imagine it is hard to replicate the high of winning Olympic gold, particularly for someone who seems to easily fail in the course of his everyday life.
So how long have you been friends with him? Because the way ou talk about him, you must know him pretty well. Oh wait, you've never met him and are just speculating about a stranger from a couple articles you've read in the tabloids? Pathetic. I'd love to see you talk to him about his "failed relationships" and how he "fails in the course of his everyday life" to his face. Or more likely to his navel, since that's probably how much bigger he is than you. Easy to talk smack when you're sitting behind a computer.
I'm a loyal fan of the Biggest Loser and hate to see people quit. Rulon had lost a large amount of weight when he quit and I would have loved to see him go through till the end. It's hard for me to a fan of his now. =(
How about being a fan of his contribution to the US Olympic team, medalling twice? How about you be a fan of his extreme weight loss to try to reach a goal he'd already accomplished one more time? How about being a fan of a human being who has faced terrific odds and fought as hard as he could against them? Man you people are tough... I'd love to see any of you say any of this stuff to his face.
Whatever happens there are other people on the team who are more dedicated.
It's like a maze inside one of those Krispy Kreme shops. Where's a search & rescue team when you need them?
I think Rulon Gardner should team up with Tonya Harding for DWTS (Olympic edition).
Rulon did his best, it just was not enough to meet the very high goal he set for himself. That does not make him a quitter or a failure. He lost a lot of weight and he is healthier and happier. I am sure he is disappointed that he did not meet his goal but that does not negate the progress he has made. Success has more than one definition.
As I said in a reply, I would love to see any of you bashing this Olympic hero to his face. You do understand this is a mountain of a man who has fought harder than any of you ever will to reach and accomplish his dreams, right? I guess not, considering how vitriolic you all are against this man who medalled in the Olympics twice and wanted one more shot, not at fame or fortune (not much of that in GR wrestling), but at his personal dream, and all you seem to care about is the fact that he left some stupid reality show. Man you people have your heads way up your as*es.
For the record he did not quit. He tried to get to a weight and was unable to do it. That is different than quitting. That is actually the oppisite of quitting. Had he made weight and changed his mind it would have been quitting. 95% of the population has no clue how demanding wrestling is...most people do quit it.
As for the Biggest Loser, he did quit that and he may have had good reason. However, have you seen the cast of the current Biggest Loser? Biggest bunch of quitters, back stabers and cry babies I have ever seen. Rulon still has more character then most of them combined. I had to "quit" watching it myself.
I wrestled in high school. That was demanding. When i got to college I met a guy who had wrestled for Clemson University, but he blew out his knee and no more scholarship, so to my school he transferred. We wrestled, and he beat the living snot out of me. I can only imagine the skill of guys at Rulon's level. All of you dingbats here who bash the man, have no clue how difficult wrestling is. Most of you, even if in decent shape, could not last 10 seconds with a seasoned wrestler on the mat. How about you all celebrate the things Rulon achieved.......or have all of you on here medalled at the olympics, thus precluding your need to venerate someone else's amazing achievements.
Dreamer,
Well said!
Wrestling is an extremely complex, trying and difficult sport. I competed myself for many years and then coached the Olympic styles of wrestling for another 15 years. I have never been a supporter of extreme weight cutting. Most coaches do not believe that serious weight cutting is of benefit to the wrestler. You cannot just rehydrate and then be at peak performance for competition the same day. If Rulon did not feel right about more weight cutting, he was very wise to stop. His personal health is far more important than whether he could make weight for one more Olympics. I can't imagine the extreme stress on the body of cutting so much weight in such a very short time.
I'm sure that wrestling is demanding and that he has had troubles/challenges to overcome, but so do most people. Most people aren't so public about it though.
To say that he "fought harder than any of you ever will to reach and accomplish his dreams" suggests that achieving his dreams is somehow a greater accomplishment than someone else achieving their dreams. My dreams don't include olympic medals, but they include being a good parent, beating my time on the next 10k race, or having all my perennials bloom. I bust my butt parenting, running, and gardening - because these are the things that are important to me. I just don't tell America about it. I wish him the best, but think that he would do himself greater justice by having his battles in private.
Rulon, just do you and be as healthy and as happy as you can for as long as you can. Bless you!
Scott please tell me why winning an olympic event makes you a hero. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease it is just sports. You can show him respect all you want but he does not even respect himself, 480pnds....
I had the privilege of meeting Rulon in January of this year. He was the real deal. I was impressed with his humility and his desire to achieve his goals. I wish him the best in his future endeavors.