World's Greatest Wrestler DEFEATED!

[Digobick]

By an unknown American no less!

<< SYDNEY, Australia -- Rulon Gardner did the unthinkable. He beat the unbeatable. He proved that Alexander Karelin isn't perfect -- and he won a gold medal that virtually nobody in the world thought he could win. American Rulon Gardner will go down in wrestling history for his stunning 1-0 defeat of Russian great Alexander Karelin.

Gardner, never an NCAA champion, never a world medalist, ended Karelin's string of three Olympic gold medals and 13-year unbeaten streak by winning the Olympic super heavyweight wrestling gold medal 1-0 Wednesday.

Karelin is universally considered the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time, a man who had never lost in international competition, who had not been scored upon in 10 years. >>

Unbelievable! You can read the whole story here.

 

[Adul]

WOW, anohter great moment from the summer games.

 

[BigSmooth]

The Americans are pulling wrestling upsets left and right, but this one was huge. This guy hadn't even been losing in a match since 1988.

 

[nd]

Kurt Angle could beat em all

 

[GL]

Not only did he beat him, he forced him to essentially call &quot;mercy&quot;. Damn!

-GL

 

[Electric Amish]

So, did he get him with the DDT? Choke slam? Or did he just slam him through a table?


What do you mean it wasn't a &quot;Hard Core&quot; rules match???




amish

 

[SirFshAlot]

is there anyplace to dl a video of it?

it's disappointing that there isn't more coverage of wrestling, and less of gymnastics

 

[denali]

here is a good site with info on Karelin.

The two biggest factors that can be attributed to his epic success, other than his attitude, are his training regimen and his feared reverse body lift. He trains in Siberia in any weather condition. Jogging miles through waist deep snow, carrying logs on his back and pushing sleds lend to his freakish strength. It looks like a Rocky training montage, but Karelin is for real. So too is the move that has made men fall to their stomachs either from fear of embarrassment or pain, practically handing Karelin points. He has effortlessly picked world class wrestlers weighing 286 lbs. up from the mat and thrown them over his own arching body crashing to the mat. The fans know its coming, Karelin knows its coming, and his opponents know its coming.....and yes, it still happens.

 

[Napalm381]

Link fixed:
Karelin

Go USA

 

[dl]

LOL! now he can sign a multi-million dollar contract with either the WWF or WCW!

 

[SKiller]

What did you expect? The guy's getting old, it was inevitable.

 

[BiB]

Maybe the winner just got lucky...?!

 

[nEoTeChMaN]

I agree with SKiller, that he is getting older and if they were at each other at 4 years younger...the Russian would have still kick ass!

 

[BiB]

Hmm, nice read. I guess with time people lose their edge and thats that...it was the russian's 3rd match of the day (compared to 2nd for other guy) and he is a bit old ;(

 

[AndrewR]

Karelin is 33, only 4 years older than Gardner -- hardly an excuse. I think one of the primary reasons for the win by Gardner (and they almost missed the point when it happened!) is that Karelin was wrestling his THIRD match that day, while it was only Gardner's second. That is rough.

Nevertheless, impressive as hell that Gardner wasn't thrown around like a piece of meat. For that simple thing, I'd say he earned the gold! That profile on Karelin is a fascinating read. The guy is just a beast on the mat (check out the video of him throwing that Japanese guy!).

 

[BiB]

Oh damn I didn't know karelin was so young - yeah 4 years doesn't make a diff unless its a 6 year old wrestling a 2-year old. Must have been cause of his 3rd match and thats why he got tired at the end....sucks.

 

[slipperyslope]

The 29-year-old Gardner has wrestled Karelin only once before today, losing in overtime.

So isn't like Gardner didn't have a chance.

Jim

 

[AndrewR]

I just watched the match a little while ago, and it was pretty interesting. Karelin was obviously a f*cking moose and quite a bit stronger than Gardner, which Gardner basically admitted in interviews (read online). One thing that struck me was that Gardner is FAT, but they kept talking about his &quot;conditioning&quot;. The guy needs to exchange about thirty pounds of fat for some muscle, and he'd be unstoppable. As it is, I am amazed that he's an Olympian -- he looked like a lardass!

Karelin just looked tired. He didn't seem to have any energy, and it is fairly obvious to see that he was spent from the day's previous matches. Too bad. I'm glad for Gardner, but that seems a cheap way to win (having a tired opponent). Nevertheless, Karelin still retains the title of &quot;best Greco-Roman wrestler of all time&quot; without question.

Isn't it strange how we know the results of the Olympics before they are broadcast? Kinda funky! Good thing, though, since the coverage sucks so thoroughly.

 

[ForeverSilky]

<< Karelin was obviously a f*cking moose and quite a bit stronger than Gardner >>



This is where the muscle between your ears comes into play.

 

[dc]

kurt angle would beat them all... after all, he's an olympic champion...

dc

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Pound-for-pound, Dan Gable would smoke all of them ...

 

[DarK SagE]

Woa this guy is a best i would love to see a fight between him and o say jet lee. Brute force vs. super duper jumping kicks.

 

[AndrewR]

Don't underestimate Karelin's fighting ability -- that profile said he's also studied sambo, boxing, and one other style.

ForeverSilky: You're right -- that's how Gardner won the match. He knew exactly what he had to do to counter Karelin's two patented moves (reverse throw and gut wrencher, I think are the terms), and he did that in the whole match. Karelin almost had him on the reverse once, but he just didn't have the strength/energy to do it.

 

[AndrewR]

Red: It's the same thing with powerlifters. They look like complete blobs, but they can move some serious poundage. Makes me think of the adage, &quot;Takes one to know one...&quot;

Did anyone happen to see that American girl who was powerlifting and doing quite well? She hardly looked anything like an &quot;Olympian&quot; by any stretch of the imagination -- you'd think she spent all day on the couch with candy. When I think &quot;elite athlete&quot;, I don't conjure up an image of a 5'4&quot; 250+lb girl (probably waaayyy off on those numbers, but it can't be far from the actual).

My thought is that if the guy lost the weight and competed in a lower category, he might be even better (since he was a virtual unknown prior to this gold medal). That being, said, his bulk contributed to his victory since it was more difficult for Karelin to pick all that fat up!

 

[Engine]

What was amazing to me was that those two guys both weighed the same. The US guy weighed 285 and looked it, while Karelin didn't have much of a gut AT ALL. He was 285 pounds of solid muscle. No wonder everyone who wrestled him was left in awe of his strength. I think I remember Ghaffari (the guy to took silver to Karelin at the 96 Olympics) said in an interview that it was like wrestling a Grizzly bear

Oh, and that female powerlifter for the US was like 5'9, 280. And she had a 24&quot; vertical leap! That's outstanding for a NORMAL sized woman!