Arizona Musicfest kicks off five week run
Marc Buckhout~ Managing Editor ~ 2/3/2010

Rulon Gardner grew up on a dairy farm, the youngest of nine children.
From an early age hard work defined his life.
“The last day of the school year was the worst day of my life, because it meant I would be up working by 6:30 a.m. every day for the next almost three months,” said Gardner, who was raised in Wyoming.
On Friday the 2000 Olympic gold medallist spent the day visiting three schools in the Cave Creek Unified School District. His final stop of the day came at Lone Mountain Elementary where he spoke to the school’s fifth graders.
While the students weren’t even born when Gardner became a household name by beating Russian Alexander Karelin, a three-time Olympic gold medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling, who hadn’t been defeated in international competition in 13 years, his message was timeless.
After the students saw highlights of Gardner’s victory, one which was compared to the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team’s upset of the Soviet Union, Gardner talked to the students about achieving success in life. Emphasizing goal setting, Gardner stressed remaining determined regardless of critics and obstacles in ones path and the value of hard work.
“When you go home today look in the mirror and talk to yourself,” he told the students. “Tell yourself that you’re going to work as hard as you can to reach your goal. Things won’t always go your way, you’ll struggle, because life is hard, but promise to yourself that you’ll do your best.”
Gardner talked about his constant challenges growing up, whether it was his early days as a youth when he was repeatedly beaten in wrestling by his older brother or in the classroom where he struggled through learning disabilities.
Through hard work and perseverance he would overcome both.
“It doesn’t matter what other people say to you,” Gardner said. “My brother would tease me every day that I’d never beat him, but I knew one day I would do it. The doubters just gave me fuel.”
After high school Gardner eventually went to college, getting a degree in education after six years.
“I had a counselor tell me that college wouldn’t be for me, that I’d fail,” he said. “I just said that all I needed was a chance. Nobody knew what I was willing to put into reaching my goals.”
Among his encouraging words Gardner said that he never allowed anyone to influence him to use drugs or alcohol.
“I couldn’t afford to lose my focus,” he said. “Those things are distractions that you don’t need. Every action has either a positive or a negative consequence.”
Along with pursuing his education Gardner continued to wrestle, with a goal of earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
“In 1999 I was still only ranked No. 3 in the U.S.A.,” he said. “I was frustrated and didn’t really know if I was going to be able to make the team, but national coach Steve Frazier encouraged me to keep fighting. He told me that my work ethic would get me where I wanted to go.”
Gardner would make the team, earning a trip to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. After winning his first four matches he found himself in a wresetling matchup against Karelin, the man who had beaten him 5-0 in their only other matchup.
“I didn’t think I could beat him, but I knew one thing. I was going to give it my best,” he said.
Gardner would pull off the win, earning a 1-0 victory to claim gold.
“Utilize what gifts you have,” Gardner said. “For me I knew I was in great shape. I could keep working and working and I just wouldn’t get tired, because I had trained harder that anybody out there.”
His will would later save his life. During a snowmobiling mishap in Feb. 2002 Gardner would find himself stranded by himself in bitter cold. Through mental will power he kept himself awake and alert overcoming hallucinations and hypothermia after spending 18 hours in subzero temperatures.
When he was rescued doctors thought he would lose both of his feet to frost bite. Gardner wouldn’t hear any of it. Instead he went through a painful rehabilitation with the dream of returning to the wrestling mat. Eventually he would lose one toe to the frost bite, but in 2004 he was back at the Olympics where he earned a bronze medal.
“People were all upset when I didn’t win the gold and I was just like I came here to compete,” he said. “I loved competing. You can’t be afraid to try. I lost hundreds of wrestling matches in my life, but as long as you give your best you can’t ask anything more. After my last match I left my shoes on the mat as a thank you to all that wrestling gave me as a person. It taught me to never settle for less than my best.”
Gardner, who now serves as a high school coach along with giving motivational talks also authored a book about his life, appropriately titled, “Never Stop Pushing.”
He closed his time with the students at Lone Mountain Elementary by asking them what their dreams were and then offering encouragement.
“If you’re going to dream, you might as well do it big and aim high,” he said.