Gardner did. He grew up as the youngest of nine children on a dairy farm, weighing 125 pounds by fourth grade, teased by kids about his shape and called "Fatso." But he also grew strong, able to lift four milk buckets at a single time or a sick calf on his shoulder.

He was all-state in football and wrestled on a Star Valley High School team that won eight consecutive state championships.

"I don't think they would call him names today,"' his dad said.

Gardner said his childhood "was kind of tough" because of the teasing, but, "I used it those insults as motivation."

And — miracle of miracles — he's got a gold medal to prove it.

U.S. Greco-Roman wrestlers, usually the junior varsity compared to the medal-winning freestylers, pulled off two remarkable upsets in Sydney.

Garrett Lowney, a 20-year-old from Minnesota wrestling in his first international competition, beat five-time world champion Gogui Koguachvili of Russia at 213 3/4 pounds and got the bronze. Karelin and Koguachvili were the two biggest favorites in Greco-Roman.

Matt Lindland, whose court fight to make the team wound up in the Supreme Court, also surprisingly won a silver medal.

Also Wednesday, Armen Nazarian, the 1996 silver medalist from Bulgaria, tackled his coach and did a backflip after pinning 1999 world champion Kim In-sub of Korea in 2:34 at 127 3/4 pounds (58 kg).

Every gold medalist to follow also did a flip — even Gardner, who managed to nearly complete it.

Filiberto Azcuy of Cuba repeated as a gold medalist, so dominating Katsuhiko Nagata of Japan that the sport's mercy rule — a 10-point lead — was invoked after Azcuy opened a 11-0 lead at 152 pounds (69 kg). Nagata got into the finals despite losing in his pool to Heath Sims of the United States.

Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey won his second gold medal, winning by referee's decision after tying 3-3 with Sandor Istvan Bardosi of Hungary after nine minutes at 187 1/4 pounds (85 kg).