From the outset, his parents and siblings urged him not to accept such fights or to wade into pro wrestling, even when the WWF was dangling $1 million in front of him.

"For a kid who never had 20 bucks in his life, it was a tough decision," says Reed Gardner. "But we told him the money is not worth getting your face beat off."

Ethical and moral considerations aside, Reed Gardner believes it would have been a mistake financially for his son to enter the seamy world of pro wrestling.

"If he had done that, it wouldn't have allowed him to do the things he's doing," he says. "When he won, this country needed someone who was a small-town farm kid who seemed to touch a lot of people. If he had done the WWF, the iron would be cold by now. He would be associated with those people."

The day Rulon Gardner returned from Sydney, he was met by Mary Lou Retton, the Olympic gymnast champion and queen of the 1984 Summer Olympics.

She told him to be careful how he handled his newfound celebrity.

"She knew what was in the future for him," says Reed Gardner. "She advised him. She told him to be careful who he signed as a manager and how he handled his money."

Overnight, he went from anonymity and per diems to fame and wealth. It was a strange new world for a young man who grew up milking cows.

Before the Olympics, he was living on an annual stipend of $9,000 from USA Wrestling, surviving largely on his wife Stacy's job as a teacher.

Then came those nine minutes on the mat in Sydney and he was the toast of America. He made the round of TV shows — Letterman, Leno, Conan, Oprah, the "Today", "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (where he won $125,000 — was this guy on a roll, or what?).

He did milk ads. He appeared on Capitol Hill. He met President Bush twice. He did a guest shot on "Nash Bridges." He went to the ESPYs. He took a bow at a Jazz game. He was invited twice to the Playboy Mansion but declined. And then he went on the road to make his fortune, and he's still there today. Try to leave a message on his cell phone and you'll likely be told that it's full.

The money and travels and celebrity have come with a steep price. He has been married and divorced three times, twice since winning the gold medal. He married while attending Ricks College, but the lifestyle and focus of a wrestler took its toll and they eventually divorced. His second marriage lasted four years (none of his marriages produced children), ending a year after the Sydney Games.