Accident prone — Gardner explains his latest close shave

NORTH SALT LAKE — When Olympic champion Rulon Gardner was a young boy, the town doctor in Afton, Wyo., told his father one day, "He's just one of those kids who's going to be accident prone."

Gardner has spent the past three decades proving him right.

After surviving accidents with snowmobiles, automobiles and motorcycles, Gardner, the Olympic heavyweight wrestling champion in 2000, made it a clean sweep of transportation disasters by surviving a plane crash in Lake Powell last weekend.

As he jumped out of the sinking plane into the icy water, Gardner said he was struck by one recurring thought: This isn't happening again!

This is getting to be a habit. Five years ago, Gardner crashed a snowmobile into an icy lake, leaving him soaked and stranded. He spent one night shivering in minus 25 degree temperatures, waiting for help.

On Saturday, he was back in the wilderness, soaked and stranded in freezing temperatures and waiting for help.

"I'm still wondering if it really happened," Gardner said in his North Salt Lake home Monday morning.

Gardner, who has nearly completed a pilot's license, was flying as a passenger with Randy and Leslie Brooks on Saturday afternoon over New Hope Bay in Lake Powell on a sightseeing tour.

Randy, who according to Gardner has 3,000 hours of flying experience, decided to drop down close to the water. Too close, as it turned out.

"Hey, watch your wheels!" Leslie told his brother, a split second before the left wheel struck the water.

The plane veered left and skipped off the water again, this time stopping the propeller. The plane struck the water again and came to a stop.

"We went from 150 miles per hour to zero in about one second," Gardner recalled.

Gardner, who struck his head on the fuselage on impact, heard the brothers yell instructions — "Unbuckle yourself and get out!" They plunged into the chilly water.

Gardner began to flounder immediately, his head repeatedly going under the water. Not only did he have to keep his 300-plus pounds afloat, he also was trying to swim while holding a cell phone, an oversize wallet and a coat in his hands. ("I was thinking I didn't want to be stranded like I was before, so I wanted the cell phone," he said).

"You guys are going to have to help me," Gardner said to the brothers, who had begun to swim away. "I'm having trouble."

Randy swam back and told Gardner to remove his shoes and empty his hands.

"It's not worth your life; it's just stuff," he said.

Gardner pocketed the phone and discarded his wallet and coat.

"I was done," Gardner recalled. "Without them, I wouldn't have made it."