Rulon Gardner Biography

Rulon Gardner is an American Olympic wrestler who is responsible for winning the first gold medal for America in Greco-Roman wrestling with a full international field. Gardner was a wrestler at the University of Nebraska where he finished 4th in the 1993 NCAA Championships at the 275 lb. weight class. Gardner had his shining moment in the 2000 Olympics when he defeated Aleksandr Karelin for the Olympic gold medal. Karelin had been undefeated for 13 years and hadn’t given up a point in the previous 6 years. Gardner followed up his Olympic gold with another gold medal at the World Championships, becoming the first American to win both an Olympic and World gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling; he won an ESPY for the Male Olympian of the Year and was selected as the USOC’s Sportsman of the Year for his efforts. He attempted to repeat at the 2004 Olympics, falling in the semifinal match and going on to take home the bronze. Gardner is currently a motivational speaker and in 2011 competed in The Biggest Loser where he had lost 173 lbs. before leaving the show due to personal reasons. 

Book Rulon Gardner for your Next Event

Disclaimer: AthleteSpeakers assists companies seeking to hire talent like Rulon Gardner for speaking engagements, virtual meetings, appearances, product endorsements, and business sanctions. Our speakers bureau does not claim to exclusively represent Rulon Gardner. Our booking agency can help with finding an athlete or sports celebrity that aligns with your upcoming events date, location, and budget. When an organization request booking details for a celebrity like Rulon Gardner, we work closely with the client to make sure the proposed dates does not interfere with the requested athletes schedule. We then confirm the sports celebrity fee based on the details of the request. The fees listed on the speaker profile are rough estimates based on the previous market rate for the talent. Our team then works with Rulon Gardner's agent, manager or assistant on the booking request. For parties interested in hiring Rulon Gardner, we recommend filling out the booking request form so our booking agents can help with making your next event a success.