Rulon Gardner

“The first time I ever beat my brother was the end of my junior year. At the end of the match, he tried to throw me, and I took him to his back and pinned him. Instead of simply losing, he bit me in the chest.”

“America's seen me go from Olympic glory to 'Biggest Loser'. I want to go back to Olympic glory again. It's kind of the American way, rebuilding yourself and remodeling yourself and making yourself more of who you are.”

“Some people are just naturally good. I always found ways to become good.”

“People say, 'You're overweight'; they question your heart and character. It's a challenge again, proving to myself and to other people that I'm still here, I still have what it takes.”

“Olympic athletes are a different breed. We're not dealing with million-dollar contracts. We don't do the sport for those deals. We do the sport because we love the challenge, the battle. We love to be an American.”

“My favorite part of Wyoming is as soon as I hit the border. I'm home, where life is good.”

“Wrestling pushes me, makes me accountable. It makes me who I am. I never felt I was just a normal person. Then I felt too normal, lazy, sedentary.”

“There's no comparison to competition. You can't tell yourself truly where you're at unless you compete in competition.”

“If a steer is more than four or five months old, he's too big to wrestle.”

“For me, back in Sydney, it was just being there and going out and beating Alexander Karelin, 13-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist. It was everything for me.”