Rainier High School and Rainier Middle School students received an inside look at the mentality of an Olympic gold medalist wrestler when Rulon Gardner spoke at an assembly at RHS on Friday, Feb. 9.
Gardner told his story of how he grew up working on a dairy farm in Afton, Wyoming, overcoming a learning disability to attend Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, and eventually the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he was a scholarship wrestler. He spoke to students about how his will to never give up and put forth 100% effort led him to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where he upset three-time reigning gold medalist Aleksandr Karelin to win gold.
Gardner also passed on his wisdom of bouncing back from traumatic events, including falling into a freezing river in the mountains in Wyoming and being stranded for 18 hours. Once he was finally rescued, he suffered from hypothermia and severe frostbite, even losing his middle toe on his right foot. He described surviving a small airplane crash in Utah, where he and two friends had to swim for two hours in 44-degree Fahrenheit water to get to shore.
His concluding message to students was to work toward their dreams, avoid making poor decisions and control their own destiny. Before departing, Gardner offered his best wishes to the Rainier wrestling team, which competed in the regional tournament on Saturday, Feb. 10, telling members, “even if you lose, make an impression. Make them remember you. That’s what Mountaineers do.”
