Wrestling death - and winning

Like most people, Rulon Gardner hopes to get around to throwing out some of the things pushed to the back of his fridge.

But the thing Gardner most has to dispose of is not last week's leftover dinner - it's the middle toe of his right foot.

It was lost to frostbite when he went missing and spent a freezing night in the winter wilderness in 2002, two years after becoming an all-American hero by unexpectedly winning gold at Sydney in the Greco-Roman wrestling.

Preserved in a jar, the pickled toe reminds him of the fragility of life, and has inspired him to reach Athens.

Gardner's is one of the more unusual and macabre stories of human endeavour, a victory of the spirit against adversity, which makes the Olympics more than just a sporting event.

"The toe symbolises a lot to me because I look at the black and the death in the toe and it makes me realise how truly lucky I am to be here today," the 32-year-old said this week.

That he has made it back from the brink, overcoming the 2002 world champion to regain his place on the US Olympic team and have the chance to defend his title in the 120kg class, means that it is time to move on, though not to forget, and to begin new chapters in his incredible life story.

"It's time to put the toe to rest," he said, revealing that he plans to bury it next to a favourite dog who died several years ago.

In 2000, Gardner was caught in the grip of celebrity fame in America when he outmanoeuvred the unbeaten and seemingly invincible three-time Olympic champion, Alexander Kareline, of Russia. Nobody had picked Gardner to even win a medal.

His zero-to-hero achievement led to television appearances on every show going, from Oprah to David Letterman. He even received a US$1.5 million opening bid from WWF promoters keen to coax him into the artificial world of professional wrestling - the antithesis of everything that the staunchly traditional, proudly historic event of Greco-Roman wrestling represents.

Gardner may have the bulk and the celebrity status to have made it big on the WWF circuit. But it is hard to imagine the teacher from humble farming beginnings strutting and posing in fake, made-for-television match-ups.

At 1.87m and 120kg, Gardner is an impressively huge man. A former shot put champion and footballer from Cascade, Colorado, he has the look of an All Black front-rower, his cup-sized ears squashed against his shaven head. His eyes are deep-set and he has five o'clock shadow, no matter the time of day.

Somehow, up close, he does not seem menacing. He talks in a disarming and engaging way, with references to blessings from the "good Lord".

When he talks about his February 2002 near-death experience, it is of how he ended up stuck down a "big old canyon".

Gardner and friends were driving snowmobiles in Wyoming one afternoon when he became disorientated and was lost. His snowmobile was stranded in deep snow and he ended up falling into a river.

Frozen cold, he was out in the open in minus 25C overnight. When a search party spotter plane found him at 7am the next day, his body temperature was so low that doctors believed he should have been dead.

When hospital staff removed his boots, both legs were frozen solid. The ligaments were so badly injured that he has still not recovered full sensitivity.

The experience, he believes, has made him a better wrestler. Because of the lack of sensitivity, every step he takes on the mat has to be deliberate. "It means I have to have better control. Instead of just leaning into stuff, now I know I have to do everything right."

It has also given him mental toughness and perspective.

"For 15 hours, I thought, 'I'm going to die tonight'."

But he continues to throw himself at life, constantly daring the good Lord. This year alone, he has sustained injuries which could have ended his Olympic comeback. He crashed his motorbike early in the year, then, a few months ago, he dislocated his wrist playing basketball.

At the US team trials, he fought his good friend and 2002 world champion Dremiel Byers for a spot in the team. The pair prayed together on the mat before combat.

Gardner won, but Byers has come to Athens too, not to fight in competition, but to help his friend prepare, albeit with the chance of earning a bit of cash.

Gardner has promised Byers the US$30,000 US Olympic committee bonus another gold medal will earn.

The Olympic tournament will be Gardner's last. "I'm going to leave my shoes on the mat."

Afterwards, he has some plans. Wife Lisa and he would like to start a family. And he has to clean out that fridge.