It was almost as predictable as Michael Johnson defending his 400m title was, but it was not meant to be. Alexander Karelin was all set to repeat his performance and the others were just supposed to fight for the second best slot. Karelin had won a string of three Olympic gold medals and had a 13-year unbeaten streak behind him when he stepped on the mat to face Rulon Gardner. The American, not even a NCAA champion, was not given a chance.

Karelin is universally considered the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time, a man who had never lost in international competition till now and one who had not been scored against in 10 years.

Rulon Gardner changed all that. And that is why he is the Olympian of the day for the way he did the unthinkable. For the way he rendered the power of the word 'impossible' meaningless.

Virtually no one in the crowd in the Sydney Exhibition Hall, outside of Gardener's immediate family, could believe the result. Not even the IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, who had come to present Karelin with his fourth gold medal

The nineteen-year-old American, whose best finish ever in world competition was a fifth place, was ecstatic.

"When did I think I could beat him? About 10 minutes ago," Gardner said. "I kept saying, 'I think I can. I think I can.' But it wasn't until it was over that I knew I could."

Gardner, a former University of Nebraska wrestler, was on the football team, quit to wrestle full time. He said beforehand that he had a strategy to counter Karelin's dreaded lifts and relentless pressure. That he even expected to "have some fun with Karelin."

"He's so big and nasty, it's like a horse pushing you," Gardner said. "I'm not as strong as him - not even close. I knew if I let him push me around, get even two or three points on me, it was over."

After the first three scoreless minutes, they began the second with a clinch and must remain locked until one executes a scoring move or releases his lock.

The score went up: 1-0 to Gardner - the first deficit Karelin had faced since the 1988 Olympic finals.

"He had a great lock on me, and another three or four inches I would have let it slip," Gardner said. "But I always wrestle kind of unorthodox, and our feet got tangled and I got under him. Maybe it confused him. But I said to myself 'he broke' and I got the point."

The youngest of nine children on a dairy farm, weighing 125 pounds by fourth grade, Gardner was teased by kids about his shape and called "Fatso."

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

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.

Gardner said the Russian Bear, "mumbled a few words at me in Russian toward the end. I don't know what he said."