The fall of king Karelin

IT WAS a defeat for a mighty Russian by an upstart American that sent shockwaves right to the heart of the Kremlin.

American grizzly Rulon Gardner achieved the unthinkable by stopping the seemingly invincible giant Russian bear Alexander Karelin to lift the Greco-Roman wrestling superheavyweight gold medal.

President Vladimir Putin, a personal friend of Karelin who sits in the Russian Duma, sent a telegram of support to the fallen hero.

``Winning three golds is a true feat. For everyone, you will always remain an unbeaten Russian warrior,'' wrote Putin.

Karelin had been attempting to join the ranks of Olympic immortals by winning a fourth gold medal but Gardner, leaning heavily on his dairy farm experiences of ``pushing cows about'', was not awed by the Russian's reputation.

Gardner, a hulking 130 kg grizzly, employed heroic defence to end Karelin's glorious 14-year unbeaten streak, which had taken him to three Olympic golds, nine world titles and 12 European crowns, by a single point after overtime. It was the first point Karelin had dropped in a decade of competition.

The Russian, variously dubbed ``Alexander the Great'', ``King Kong Karelin'', ``the monster'' and ``the experiment'', virtually submitted three seconds before the end of the bout and watched in stunned disbelief as the American celebrated with a forward flip.

``I have been an underdog every step of my life but my philosophy has been never to quit,'' said the 29-year-old Gardner. ``I cannot believe I have actually won - I am a kid from Wvoming, the lord has blessed me somehow.

``Karelin is immensely strong - it is like shoving a horse around. You know I was raised on a dairy farm and I have a lot of experience pushing cows around to get them where they should be. That experience helped.

``I felt calm and used defence to beat him. It got him out of Sync and stopped him from lifting. I am strong enough to prevent him from lifting me. Some people say that it looks as if I have eaten a little kid - my chest is so big.''

Karelin's loss overshadowed the Greco-Roman competition and the feats of three wrestlers who continued to build their own dynasties.

Bulgaria's Armen Nazarian won back-to-back gold medals in sensational fashion by pile driving the unfortunate Kim in-sub of South Korea into the mat in the 58 kg showdown. Cuba's Filiberto Azcuy and Turkey's Hamza Yerlikaya also retained their Olympic titles.

Young Russian Varteres Samourgachev had a stylish triumph in the 63 kg class, leaving Olympic and World champions in his wake, and at just 21 could follow Karelin's trail to the top.

The American ``tag team'' of pit bull and the giant slayer were the fall guys of the Olympic freestyle competition.

Brandon ``giantslayer'' Slay and Sam ``pit bull'' Henson were confident that their aggressive style would reap double gold for the United States but they were frustrated by spoiling tactics of their opponents and controversial refereeing.

Slay, nicknamed the ``giantslayer'' after ending the five-year winning run of 1996 Olympic champion Bouvaissa Saitiev, lost to experienced German Alexander Leipold. The 31-year-old Leipold, competing in his fourth Olympics, won his country's first freestyle gold in 40 years.

``Pit bull'' Henson was spitting mad after his 4-3 loss to Namig Abdullayev of Azerbaijan in the 54 kg gold medal match. Abdullayev, who picked up his country's second gold of the Sydney Games after success for shooter Zemfira MeftakhetdiNova, used spoiling and time-wasting tactics which infuriated Henson.

The United States, which collected three freestyle gold medals in the Atlanta Olympics, finished with no titles while Russia won four, including one for Bouvaissa Saitiev's brother Adam.

There was an uplifting end to the wrestling competition when Nigeria-born Canadian Daniel Igali, one of 21 children who slept three to a bed and ate four to a plate during a Spartan upbringing, completed an amazing journey from poverty to Olympic gold.

Igali, the reigning World champion, beat Arsen Gitinov of Russia to win the 69 kg freestyle title.

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