Wednesday, Febraury 28, 2007

Rulon Gardner Back on Speaker's Circuit

Rulon Gardner has a whole new tale of endurance to add to his motivational speeches. The Olympic gold medalist was back on a plane, back on the speaker's circuit and back on wrestling mat just days after a plane collide plunged him into a frigid lake near the Arizona-Utah border. Adding the meet to his growing list of near-miracles, Gardner said Tuesday that his disturbing weekend "is an experience I still can't comprehend."

Wearing jeans on a campus where they're not allowable and a leather jacket decorated with the Olympic rings. Gardner spoke at the Middlesex School about location goals and reaching them for about an hour. When the theater had to clear out for national French exams, he went over to the athletic building to provide a wrestling clinic. Why hop on a plane just two days after crashing in one? For the same reason he has resume wrestling just six months after he nearly lost his feet to frostbite in a previous outdoor ordeal.