Rulon Gardner is arguably one of the biggest winners in amateur wrestling history. Now he hopes to be the biggest loser.
The 2000 Olympic gold medal-winning matman will be one of 11 contestants on NBC's The Biggest Loser season 11 which begins Jan. 4, 2011.
Gardner's partner on the show will be Justin Pope, his business partner at Elite Training Center in Logan, Utah. Both are 39 years old.
Gardner, an NCAA All-American heavyweight for the University of Nebraska, stunned the world by defeating three-time Olympic gold medalist Alexander Karelin in the Greco-Roman super heavyweight finals in Sydney in September 2000. Karelin, known as "The Siberian Tiger" and "The Experiment" for his powerful physique and take-no-prisoners wrestling style, was a three-time Olympic gold medalist who had not lost an international match in 13 years... and was expected to easily earn a fourth gold, until the Wyoming dairy farmer beat him, 1-0 in overtime. Gardner followed that with a bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
This past June, Gardner was inducted as a Distinguished Member into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, OK.
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Resources
Weight Loss Examiner: Biggest Loser season 11: Meet the contestants
Rulon Gardner: Official website... Elite Training Center website
National Wrestling Hall of Fame: Official website... Rulon Gardner Hall of Fame biography... Video: Interview with Rulon Gardner... Induction ceremony
Larry Slater: Photos from National Wrestling Hall of Fame Honors Weekend
College Wrestling 101: Links to College Wrestling Examiner articles answering basic questions about wrestling, including rules, scoring, uniforms, more
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