SYDNEY — Uncommon upper-body strength and a new rule added to Greco-Roman wrestling this year combined to make Rulon Gardner a most surprising Olympic champion Wednesday night.
Gardner, from the farming town of Afton, Wyo., not far from the Utah border, defeated three-time defending super heavyweight Olympic champion Alexander Kareline from Russia 1-0 in overtime as a packed house in the Olympic Exhibition Hall looked on in various stages of disbelief. Since competing internationally from the age of 21, the 33-year-old Kareline had never lost.
One of the Russian's wins came two and a half years ago against Gardner, the only other time they met.
But Gardner was more seasoned this time around, after spending the past two and a half seasons immersing himself in the art of Greco-Roman, a form of wrestling not common in the United States, where freestyle wrestling is the predominant style in high schools and colleges.
The basic difference is that in freestyle wrestling you can use your legs for holds and pushing; in Greco-Roman the legs just go along for the ride. Even on takedowns, wrestlers must remain in full contact. No over-the-head body slams in Greco-Roman.
It is a classic, man-on-man discipline that relies heavily on upper-body strength.
It was only after Gardner had graduated from the University of Nebraska and capped a successful collegiate freestyle wrestling career with a fourth-place finish in the heavyweight division of the NCAA championships that heturned to the Greco-Roman style.
In an open meet about five years ago where both disciplines were competing, a coach looked at Gardner's massive chest and the way he could manhandle most opponents when going toe-to-toe.
"You should try Greco," he was told.
Gardner took the advice, easily adapted, and a new Greco-Roman force was born. The Wyoming native moved to Tucson, Ariz., and concentrated solely on the new leg-less technique. This past summer, in what must now be viewed as only a preliminary shocker, he defeated 1996 Olympic silver medalist Matt Ghaffari at the U.S. Olympic Trials to win a spot on America's team in Sydney.
Wednesday night, he became just the third American to win a gold medal in Greco-Roman Olympic history (even though the sport has been around since the beginning of the modern Olympic Games in 1896). One of the other two, Steven Fraser, a coach of this year's U.S. team who won a gold medal at heavyweight in 1984, observed, "This means so much to our program, this means so much to me. It gives us a great lift."
Had it not been for a new "clinch rule" adopted this year in an effort to increase Greco-Roman scoring, Gardner and Kareline might still be on the mat, keeping each other at bay.
The clinch rule calls for two wrestlers who are scoreless after the first three-minute period to enter into a chest-to-chest clinch. The wrestler with the advantaged position — the clincher, not the clinchee — must either score a point via a takedown or lift within 60 seconds or the person in the disadvantaged position wins a point.
A coin is flipped by the referee to determine who gets the advantage.
In the Gardner-Kareline match, the flip went to Kareline, who chose to have the advantaged position.
English translation: he got to grab Gardner first.
In 12 years of undefeated competition, it's always been Kareline's legendary strength that has allowed him to prevail over even the most formidably skilled opponents.
But he could not budge Gardner, who credits at least some of his strength to working on his father's Wyoming farm while growing up.
Early into the clinch, Kareline inexplicably broke his hold. Gardner then loosened his grip in an attempt to hang on. The match was stopped as judges looked at the videotape to determine who had broken his grip first. When it was determined it was the Russian, Gardner had his point.
"I knew he'd broken first, I just hoped they'd see it," said Gardner.
Through the remainder of regulation time and then through three minutes of overtime, the onetime Wyoming state high school champion and Ricks College junior college national champion held on to capture the gold medal.
As head U.S. wrestling coach Dan Chandler said, it was not easy
"This guy (Gardner) isn't just strong, he has great aerobic capacity," Chandler said. "Kareline is in great shape. My guy is in even better shape. He's just got a great set of lungs on him."
"It was weird, I was pretty calm," Gardner said. "If you believe in your mind you can do something, your body does what you ask."
Gardner credited his attention to both technique and conditioning as key factors in his triumph. "These guys are just so good," he said of the international field of experienced Greco-Roman wrestlers he had just survived, winning six straight matches in three days. "I had to be in good condition just to hang on."
E-mail: benson@desnews.com