The [whatever]th season of The Biggest Loser is scheduled to debut tonight at 8 ET on NBC. Among its contestants: former United States Olympic wrestler Rulon Gardner. Though he’s been a three-time Olympic medal-winner, three-time U.S. champion, NCAA All-American, and so forth, he’s best known as the man who pulled off one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
VIDEO: Rulon Gardner, Biggest Loser Contestant, Was U.S. Olympic Wrestling Hero
Entering the 2000 Summer Olympics finals against Gardner, Russian wrestler Aleksandr Karelin had gone undefeated since 1987 and hadn’t surrendered a point since 1994. With nine world titles, he’d never lost in international competition. He was widely known as “the Meanest Man in the World,” and was famous for being strong enough to pull off moves against fellow heavyweights that were typically only feasible against lighter competition.
By contrast, the overlooked Gardner had yet to ever medal in the Olympics; his top career achievement was winning the 1998 Pan American Games. Karelin had tossed him around the ring in their 1997 match. Cocky and country strong took on the world’s most dominant athlete in an upset that made Rocky IV look run of the mill.
A goddamn American hero, y’all.
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