Rulon Gardner created the “Miracle on the Mat” on Sept. 27, 2000, when the 29-year-old first time Olympian defeated three-time Olympic champion Alexander Karelin, 1-0, in the Greco-Roman finals at heavyweight. Gardner, who will serve as color commentator for NBC at the 2008 Olympics, recently spoke to W.I.N. editor Mike Finn about his past Olympic career and the U.S. outlook in Beijing.

Q It’s been eight years since you stunned the wrestling world with the victory over Alexander Karelin in the 2000 Olympics. Other than the winning the match, what were the other great moments from that match?

A After it was over, when I was on the medal stand. I was listening to the national anthem and saw Karelin’s head (which was lower than Gardner on the stand) and thought about taking my hand off my heart and just touch him to see if (the victory) was real. It seemed like a dream because it was so surreal that you wondered if was true. I just didn’t know because nothing in my life had ever felt so surreal.
I actually don’t remember much of the match. We were so focused on the actual match itself and everything was so fine-tuned. I didn’t recall much after the match was over. Now when I do my speaking and traveling, I get to see all the video of me over and over, it’s amazing to see myself in that sport, now. I actually did things in that match that I had never done before and that’s interesting to see.

Q What were some of those things that you had not done before?

A Probably the way I would pummel with somebody and the misdirection. Coming into the match against a regular wrestler, you want to come in strong and powerful. But with Karelin, you wanted to come in strong, but not be as tough. You wanted to use more misdirection so he doesn’t know what direction you’re coming from. A lot of people with him would try to come straight up and down and be as tough as they can, but they would wear themselves out. With Karelin, we wanted to use misdirection and change the tempo and don’t just methodically go out there and wrestle him. We wanted to quick, slow; slow, fast and try to make him catch up with you.

Q You won the match by successfully defending his clinch at the start of the second period. What was your mindset as you went into that clinch?

A We only had one clinch in that match and we felt that was good. That was what we wanted. When he tied me up in that clinch and I felt it was a tight lock. I asked the referee, “Can you have him re-lock?” All the referee said was, “Attention,” which meant I had to lock up and that he wasn’t going to make him re-lock. I made a half-second decision. Was I going to let all this training and practice go out the window by not trying? I thought it wasn’t the best lock in the world, but I thought I was going to lock up anyways.

When the referee blew the whistle, we started scrambling and started reacting on each other. In the clinch position, I was always a strong wrestler and didn’t give up until the last second, until it was over. When I was there, I just used the same mental toughness and kept circling. I used a defensive stance. One wrestler was going to lose. He had a great lock but I was able to change the angle to elevate my underhook and was able to create a “neutral” lock where I was in better position to score the point.


Q Why did you not buy into the hype of Karelin?

A Oh no, I bought into the hype. He threw me on my head in 1997 and beat me 5-0. It was pure all-out force and power. When (Karelin) is 13 years undefeated and hadn’t been scored on in ten years, it wasn’t as much hype as factual. When you lose to him as I did in 1997, he has the ability, character and strength to win. I just had to go out there and not wrestle his match. I had to go out there and wrestle my match and create your destiny and not worry about all the external factors.


Q Did you consider the victory an upset?

A Of course I did, 100 percent. I was sitting there before the match. We had watched three different matches; two from the World Championships the year before and one from the Olympics in Sydney and at the end Dan Gable had walked up and said, “Rulon.” It almost felt like my father was speaking to me. When I looked up, he said, “You’ve been saying some stuff that I don’t really agree with. You’re giving Karelin too much credit. You’re telling everyone that he is going to beat you.” I told Dan no; that I wanted Karelin to know that I was not a threat. I wanted to let (Karelin) know that he was better.” Gable asked me if I had a chance to win and I said, “Of course. I plan on going out there and beating him.” To have a man like Dan out there caring for me, considering he was more of a freestyle guy, you can teach each other values. That was one of the better memories of the Olympics.”


Q When people talk about the great Olympic upsets, most people talk about the 1980 U.S. hockey upset of the the Soviet Union. Should your upset of Karelin be right up there with it?

A From my perspective as an athlete and being competitive as a wrestler, I’d have to say yes. I’d like for it to be mentioned in the same area. Mine wasn’t better or worse. A lot of Greco wrestlers don’t go out there and make comments against other people. We just go out there and compete.

I always wanted my opponents to be happy and look at me and say, “Oh, he’s such a good guy.” I never wanted him to be mad at me before the match, because if he was, I was in for trouble. My match wasn’t during the Soviet era, but he was Karelin, who was on the World and Olympic Team when I was in high school. He was the best of the best.


Q Did you ever speak to Karelin?

A Right before we walked up to the medal stand, I said, “I want to thank you for giving me the chance to wrestle for you. You are the best. You will always be the best. I respect you and appreciated the chance to compete with you. He turned around and said (in a Russian accent), “You are a very good wrestler.” And I said, “Thank you.”

Q Have you spoken to him since?
A Not directly. We were there after the Olympics and getting ready to take a Harley Davidson motorcycle ride and we were taking some pictures out on the street with some kids outside the Olympic Village. I looked up and here was Karelin in full camouflage fatigues like he was going to war. I ran over to him and said, ‘Hey, how are you?” He said, “Good, I am OK” in a very serious tone, not playing.”


Q Four years later at the Athens Olympics, you came up short on repeating as champion. But after your bronze medal victory, you made news when you retired by leaving your shoes at the center of the mat. At the recent Olympic Trials, many wrestlers did the same thing but did not get the same response. What were your feeling about that?

A I hope and pray the respect I got in 2004 that these wrestlers would get the same respect from people inside and outside of wrestling. When you get to that top level, even for high school wrestlers who retire, it’s special.


Q There have been a lot of things that have happened in your life, including the snowmobile accident when you had your toe amputated in 2002 and your motorcycle accident in 2004. Do you ever feel that it is hard to separate the mythical Rulon Gardner from the real Rulon Gardner?

A Sometimes, I will hear stories about me and I’ll say, “Are you kidding me?’ Did that actually happen?” I’ve gotten to a point where people say that type of stuff as opposed to the actual facts.


Q Have there been any comments about your life from people that surprised you?

A At the ESPYs in 2000 (when he won U.S. Male Olympic Athlete of the Year), I got a chance to talk to Tiger Woods and he said, ‘You inspired me. You made me believe and see things and you made me work harder.’ When you hear things like that from a human being’s perspective, it was cool. And from a wrestler’s perspective, when wrestlers don’t get the most respect, to have someone see the value of a sport and say I respect you just because of your effort and ultimately the character you showed in that match.


Q Now that you are broadcasting and are close to wrestling again, do you miss it?

A Not really. When I was competing, I didn’t just go out there to win. Every day I went to practice, I went out to wrestle as the Olympic or World champion. I wanted to wrestle every match at that level. I didn’t make the high school varsity until my senior year. I never won an NCAA tournament. Then I was ranked behind Matt Ghaffari and went into 2000 not even expected to make the U.S. Olympic Team. So when I got there, it was something completely new. All those people who were back here in America, let them see you accomplish things. Let that be the pride of your life.


Q The 2000 Olympics was your first Olympic experience. There are 14 of 16 wrestlers who are competing in their first Olympics at the 2008 Games. What recommendations would you make to them?

A Go in there with a plan. Go in there knowing what they need to do to win. Enjoy the Olympics but realize they have a job to do. There hardest work has been done already. Now they have to go out there and finish what they started. If they can get their minds set to expect to conquer the world, that’s the way they need to walk out there. You see some guys act like they are completely overwhelmed and act like they shouldn’t even be there. We know all these American athletes have potential. They have to realize they can’t get scared and all the training up to now is going to lead them to the Olympics and hopefully an Olympic medal.


Q If the Americans are successful in Beijing, what will be the common denominator of their efforts?

A Sacrifice. They must walk out there knowing they are the best in the world and I’m going to beat you. You could see a lot of those characteristics in the Olympic Trials where athletes came back in the closing seconds of their matches to win the match. You don’t just want to win. You want to win with authority. You have to believe that even with a few seconds left in the match, you’re still going to win.


Q Why and how did Jake Deitchler win the 145.5-pound weight class at the Olympic Trials in Las Vegas?

A He didn’t go out there like a high school wrestler. He went out there like a man, who said I may not be the best and most talented, but you are going to see more commitment from me than anyone else here and I’m going to live off my emotion. You could see his happiness. You could see his frustration. What made him win that tournament was his expectation to compete. When you get to a World championship and realize the referee and the rules are not going your way, you start getting a preset notion. He went out there as an 18-year-old believing that he belonged there.


Q Serving as a color commentator for NBC in Beijing, you become the voice of wrestling, at least for the Olympics. What message do you want to deliver?

A My goal is not to only speak to the wrestlers in this country. I want to make sure that people understand what is going on with the wrestlers and what is their story. You want to share with the country what the character of this sport that we are all apart of. A lot of Americans know of people who wrestled in high school. We want to share that happiness, that pain, that joy, that suffering and the overall experience of wrestling with the people in America. If we can share that vision, it’s perfect.