Gardner, also a 2001 World champion and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, is one of the greatest wrestlers in U.S. history, and one of the best stories on the sports scene.
His appearance on “The Biggest Loser” adds to the list of interesting life twists for Rulon. He was the unknown farm kid who knocked off perhaps the greatest Olympian of modern times. He lost a toe and suffered life-threatening frostbite after an snowmobile accident in 2002, yet returned to the mat. Prior to the 2004 Olympics, he broke a hand playing basketball and crashed his motorcycle, yet still claimed bronze. After retirement, he was in a plane crash which went down into a lake. Now Gardner takes on the challenge of losing weight, after going up to 474 pounds at the start of the new season at The Biggest Loser.