Wrestler Rulon Gardner has faced enough obstacles to last a lifetime since his gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics when he defeated Russian Alexander Karelin, who had not lost for 13 years.

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The Tuesday announcement that the IOC was dropping wrestling entirely stunned Rulon Gardner, the American who pulled off a famous Olympic upset at the 2000 Sydney Games, when he beat Russian legend Aleksandr Karelin to win Greco-Roman gold.

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