My first meeting with Olympic and World Champion Rulon Gardner was in 1995 when I accepted the job as the National Coach of the U.S. Greco-Roman Wrestling Team. Little did I know at that point during our first meeting and in the first years training together what the future held. Little did I realize that this 280-pound farm boy from Wyoming would become a hero in the sport of Greco-Roman wrestling “in the U.S. and around the globe. Little did I know at this initial meeting that with the help of the coaching staff at USA Wrestling and his teammates, Rulon would emerge as an Olympic gold medalist.
Nor did I know then that our meeting would turn into a nine-year relationship of not just the normal wrestling experiences of wins, losses, hardships and successes, but it also would involve great friendship, respect, understanding and lots of laughs and practical jokes along the way.
The Making of A Hero:
Previous to my arrival, Rulon was recruited from the University of Nebraska by then National Coach, Mike Houck, a former World Champion himself. When Mike recruited Rulon, he had never even heard of Greco-Roman wrestling. However, Mike talked Rulon into wrestling Greco and right away Rulon achieved substantial success, placing in top tournaments.
In 1996 Rulon moved to Colorado Springs and joined the U.S. Olympic Training Center Resident Program. Not only did this demonstrate how serious Rulon was about pursing excellence but it also allowed me to work more closely with him. I was able to get to know who he really was, what he was made of and what he was capable of doing on the mat.
When I started working with Rulon full-time I began to see the real Rulon Gardner. I saw his inner drive, hard work ethic, power, stamina and passion for the sport. I saw the ingredients of a champion.
Rulon’s move to Colorado Springs put him in a regimented training environment that helped him to improve his skills and bring all his knowledge and intensity together into one training environment. Under the leadership and guidance of our coaching staff and from the competition from his peers, Rulon began to evolve.
Once a Resident athlete, I started working with Rulon daily. I came to know his personality and what made him tick. I learned that he and I had a lot in common. We were both fiercely competitive, mentally tough and while we were grown adults we enjoyed friendly competitive wagers among friends. We both liked trying to one-up one another and we did this a lot with each other.
One of the first “wagers” between us took place in Poland after the Pytlasinki Tournament. It was a hot summer day in August and after an exhausting day of competition in a sweltering gymnasium, I challenged Rulon to carry our 97-kilo wrestler from the gym back to the hotel, which was approximately a mile a way. Dan Hicks was the wrestler he carried. If any part of Dan’s body touched the ground, Rulon was the looser and I of course would be the winner. If he was successful in getting him back to the hotel and placing him in his room without ever letting Dan’s body touch the ground then I would eat my words. He’d be the winner and also $150 richer.
Needless to say, I didn’t make the trip back to the hotel easy for the big guy. Let’s just say that obstacles appeared along the path, the hotel elevator was stalled and the key to his room was missing. Hey, this was all just a test of toughness, not to mention, I wanted to make $150.
However, Rulon dodged the obstacles, overcame the “mysterious” elevator problems and after standing in the hallway for 25 minutes in complete sweat, the key to the room was finally located and brought to his door. He was victorious.
The same way I challenged him off the mat with these fun-type activities was the same way we challenged and made things interesting for him and the other athletes in the practice room.
I remember a time when Rulon and I were doing a 90-minute grind match. After grueling me for nearly 20 minutes, I realized I needed help to give Rulon a workout and to save my life! From the mat, I saw our National Freestyle Coach, Kevin Jackson and shouted over and asked for his help. Feeling sorry for me, Kevin jumped in and alternated with me every three minutes in wrestling Rulon for the remaining 70 minutes. Our goal was to try to break him and make him quit. Rulon never relinquished one-bit. For the most part, he beat both of us up throughout the duration of the grind match. He was tough. He didn’t like to loose.
Fun-like activities such as the Dan Hicks wager episode also created memorable moments between Rulon and I. It helped build a foundation between us. Having a solid foundation between an athlete and his/her coach is very important for success. An athlete needs to have faith and trust in his/her coach. The athlete needs to know their coach cares about them not just in competition but also in life. There are lots of ways to develop a relationship between an athlete and a coach. Coaches should listen to their athletes, share their own personal experiences and spend time getting to know them and what motivates them as individuals. In this scenario, fun wagers became a way for Rulon and I to connect. It was our way of developing the coach/athlete relationship. All coaches and athletes should find their own system or way of connecting.
Setbacks:
Success was not an overnight thing for Rulon. Along his journey there where set backs. For example, after training for two years to make the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team, he arrived a few minutes late to the U.S. Olympic Trials weigh-in. As a result, he was not allowed to compete in the Olympic Trials.
If he were to compete, Rulon would have needed to beat Matt Ghaffari who was the reigning World medalist and National Champion.
As one of Rulon’s coaches at the Olympic Trials, I was very disappointed Rulon was not able to compete. However, that year Matt Ghaffari was the guy to beat. Matt, was also one of my athletes so I was equally proud to help coach him to his silver medal win during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He lost the gold to the undefeated Russian of 9 years, Alexander Karelin, by a score of 2-0 in overtime.
In 1997, Rulon made his first U.S. World Team. It was at the 1997 Worlds in Poland that Rulon wrestled Karelin for the first time. He wrestled a very tough match, defending against Karelin’s trademark reverse lift. By twisting his body in a very unnatural way he countered Karelin’s move, thus shielding himself against the high scoring points that Karelin typically scored with this spectacular technique. In doing this Rulon had to endure his body being twisted in a very painful manner.
Karelin ended victorious in the match. Rulon placed 5th in the tournament. However, he showed signs that with continued proper training and preparation he could give the world’s most decorated and feared wrestler a competitive match and could even quite possibly defeat him.
While his loss to Karelin may have been viewed as a defeat, it was really the turning point of setting him on the road to victory.
Stay tuned for more about the “Rulon Gardner”¦.The Making of an American Hero”
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