Champion Gardner cheats death once again

NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah, Mar 16 (Reuters) Rulon Gardner is a man accustomed to beating the odds but this time he believed he was going to die.

The Olympic wrestling champion was on a single-engine plane that crashed into an icy lake last month and knew he faced having to swim for nearly two hours to survive.

''I can't make it,'' he thought as the freezing water swirled around him. ''I can't do it. I'm going to die.'' Gardner, 35, a double medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling, was a passenger with two friends when their plane came down on Lake Powell near the Utah-Arizona border.

The youngest of nine children, Gardner should never be counted out. As an underdog in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney the American stunned the world with a gold medal win over Russia's celebrated Alexander Karelin.

He would also medal in Athens 2004 before retiring from wrestling.

Though Gardner's success on the worldwide stage has made him a big attraction it is his life-and-death struggles in everyday circumstances that make him a long-lasting hero.

''The aircraft started to sink,'' he told Reuters. ''We got out of our seatbelts, got out of the aircraft and got into the water and at that point I started to panic a little bit but they calmed me down and made me relax.'' Leslie Brooks and his pilot brother, Randy, encouraged Gardner to use the backstroke and they started swimming towards the shoreline.

Gardner recalled he was on his own, forcing his massive six-foot-two-inch (1.88-metre), 330-pound (150-kg) frame to stay afloat and reach land.

SEVERE HYPOTHERMIA After close to two hours in the water Gardner reached the shore in Good Hope Bay.

''My arms were numb,'' he said. ''I couldn't feel them. When I got to the shore everything was numb. It was almost a surreal feeling of is this true or is this not true?'' Gardner soon found his friends who had also made land but now they were struggling to survive.

''Both of them were in severe hypothermia. Randy was at the point he couldn't even speak, his body convulsing and basically shutting down,'' said Gardner.

The men found themselves facing a cold night without shelter.

Born and raised on a farm in Star Valley, Wyoming, Gardner had survived many close calls.

As a youngster he accidentally stabbed himself with an arrow. He was tossed out of the back of the family truck after his 11-year-old sister who was driving over-corrected. In college he was in a car accident but escaped without serious injury.

During a 2002 snowmobile outing Gardner nearly froze to death when he became separated from friends. He could not get his snowmobile out of a gully and spent 18 hours in wet clothes before being rescued. His toes were damaged and he lost one to frostbite.

Two years later, Gardner was back in the Olympics winning bronze in Athens at the age of 33.

DAWN RESCUE Knowing of Gardner's accident-prone past one of the terrified brothers asked him if they would survive the night.

''He's like, 'Rulon can we make it?' And I said, 'Yes','' said Gardner.

''We made a wind shelter. That's why you have a team. They first convinced me of doing it and then I convinced them of doing it. Team coaches, everybody. You work as a group not by yourself not individually,'' said Gardner.

The trio huddled together for warmth through the night and with dawn came rescue from passing fishermen.

Since he retired from wrestling Gardner has been a popular motivational speaker at schools and in the corporate world.

Despite his latest mishap Gardner vows to continue ''sharing his vision'' with youngsters. He also plans to develop some health clubs and embark on business ventures.

Sitting in his living room wearing a T-shirt and jeans the burly farm boy turned gold medal wrestler reflected on his life.

''I've been given so many gifts, miracles and blessings.

Everything. There's no reason I made it through any of that stuff but I did,'' he said.

From his boyhood days on a dairy farm to Olympic gold to the shoreline of aptly named Good Hope Bay, Gardner stays the course, awaiting his next adventure.

''Dream, believe and accomplish,'' he said.

REUTERS SAM KP1035