4th and Long
02-26-2007, 11:16 AM
Is this guy the most (un)lucky Olympian ever?
Rulon Gardner Survives Plane Crash
Wrestler Won Olympic Gold At 2000 Sydney Games
POSTED: 9:55 am CST February 26, 2007
UPDATED: 11:00 am CST February 26, 2007
SALT LAKE CITY -- Two-time Olympian Rulon Gardner and two Utah men were rescued by a fisherman Sunday after surviving a small plane crash in Utah.
Officials said Gardner was a passenger in the Cirrus SR 22 along with pilot Randy Brooks and his brother, Leslie Brooks. The plane was flying low when it struck the water. All three men were able to get out of the plane before it sank.
According to officials, the three men swam for more than an hour in 44-degree water before reaching shore and then spent the night without shelter.
None suffered life threatening injuries.
This was not Gardner's first brush with a life-threatening accident.
In February 2002 the Olympic gold medalist was involved in a snowmobile accident. After falling in a Wyoming lake, Gardner was stranded for 17 hours in temperatures of minus-25 degrees. He suffered from frostbite and needed the middle toe of his right foot amputated.
In March 2004, the wrestler was involved in another accident, this time on a motorcycle. Gardner, who wasn't wearing a helmet, suffered cuts and bruises after he was tossed off his motorcyle.
A two-time Olympian, Gardner recorded an upset victory to win gold at the 2000 Sydney Games. The Greco-Roman heavyweight defeated three-time gold medalist Aleksandr Karelin of Russia in a match that was dubbed "Miracle on the Mat." Before the upset, Karelin had never lost a match in international competition.
Gardner, who grew up on a dairy farm in Wyoming, ended his wrestling career at the 2004 Athens Games, where he earned a bronze medal.
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/sports/11114665/detail.html
Rulon Gardner Survives Plane Crash
Wrestler Won Olympic Gold At 2000 Sydney Games
POSTED: 9:55 am CST February 26, 2007
UPDATED: 11:00 am CST February 26, 2007
SALT LAKE CITY -- Two-time Olympian Rulon Gardner and two Utah men were rescued by a fisherman Sunday after surviving a small plane crash in Utah.
Officials said Gardner was a passenger in the Cirrus SR 22 along with pilot Randy Brooks and his brother, Leslie Brooks. The plane was flying low when it struck the water. All three men were able to get out of the plane before it sank.
According to officials, the three men swam for more than an hour in 44-degree water before reaching shore and then spent the night without shelter.
None suffered life threatening injuries.
This was not Gardner's first brush with a life-threatening accident.
In February 2002 the Olympic gold medalist was involved in a snowmobile accident. After falling in a Wyoming lake, Gardner was stranded for 17 hours in temperatures of minus-25 degrees. He suffered from frostbite and needed the middle toe of his right foot amputated.
In March 2004, the wrestler was involved in another accident, this time on a motorcycle. Gardner, who wasn't wearing a helmet, suffered cuts and bruises after he was tossed off his motorcyle.
A two-time Olympian, Gardner recorded an upset victory to win gold at the 2000 Sydney Games. The Greco-Roman heavyweight defeated three-time gold medalist Aleksandr Karelin of Russia in a match that was dubbed "Miracle on the Mat." Before the upset, Karelin had never lost a match in international competition.
Gardner, who grew up on a dairy farm in Wyoming, ended his wrestling career at the 2004 Athens Games, where he earned a bronze medal.
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/sports/11114665/detail.html