He was the last of the Gardners, the last R in the string of boys — Rollin, Ronald (who died), Russell, Reynold, then Rulon — born to Reed and Virginia Gardner; the last kid brother that sisters Gerry, Evon, Diane and Marcella could either mother or terrorize, depending on their mood.

"I used to put him in a cradle hold and wouldn't let him go until he cried," said Diane, laughing now, "and he'd admit that to you."

"We had holes in the walls, holes in the doors, we were always wrestling growing up," said Marcella. "And we (the girls) were the trainers. We should really get credit for this."

In a way, it had been just another wrestling tournament in just another city, so long had the Gardners been following the boys to their meets. Rollin Gardner, the oldest boy, was 6 when he signed up for peewee wrestling. That was in 1967, four years before Rulon was born.

"I had no idea how much wrestling we were going to see after that," said Reed Gardner. "I sure didn't think we'd wind up in a place like this."

Or that the last of the line would bring them here. All the boys wrestled, and that kept Rulon in his place, which for a long time was at the bottom of the pile. The only reason Rulon didn't win a state high school championship at Star Valley High until he was a senior was because he had to wait until Reynold, his older brother by just 18 months, finally graduated.

They had some memorable battles in high school, but Reynold always prevailed. One match, Diane remembered last night, Rulon was trailing, as usual, and their mother, Virginia, shouted, "Come on, Rulon!"

"Reynold heard it and wouldn't talk to Mom for a month," said Diane. "But she was just trying to encourage Rulon because he was behind." Wednesday night, the first person to leap on center stage from out of the stands, too quick for any of the ushers to stop, was Reynold Gardner. He grabbed his brother and they had a celebratory clinch that went on and on, there on the edge of the mat.

Then the 6-foot-3, 281-pound Rulon performed a picture-perfect cartwheel and circled the arena waving an American flag as the Sydney Exhibition Hall crowd that had first been stunned into an eerie kind of quiet now stood up and cheered this most uncommon, and unexpected, upset.

A world press corps fully expecting, like Samaranch, the continued reign of Kareline had showed up in unprecedented numbers for the match. Afterward, several hundred packed into the news conference room to learn more about this cowboy from Wyoming who had defeated the Siberian.

When did he think he had a chance to beat the best wrestler in the history of wrestling? Gardner was asked.

"About 10 minutes ago," he said. "To have his history, his legacy . . . there's a certain awe about him," Gardner continued. "I didn't come in expecting I'd win. I didn't want him to throw me. All I could do was do my best."

When had he first heard about the great Kareline?