America at Large: Like Brazilian soccer players, some athletes are destined to be known forever by their Christian names, and Rulon the Wrestler is one of them. Most Americans wouldn't know a Greco-Roman match from a rugby scrum, but they all know Rulon Gardner.

No disrespect to that Zeus fellow who won the original Greco (the "Roman" part was an expansion franchise that came along later) gold medal, but putting a full-nelson on that Kronos fellow at Olympia was probably a piece of cake compared to tossing around Alexander Karelin, the previously undefeated Russian legend Rulon had to beat to win gold in the 130kg category in Australia four years ago.

That shocking victory in a sport in which Americans do not traditionally excel turned an affable, roly-poly Mormon from Wyoming into an instant celebrity, with late-night network chat-shows all wrestling over Rulon.

Over the intervening four years, Rulon had nearly frozen to death after being stranded overnight in a Rocky Mountain snowstorm, had a toe amputated, gotten divorced, wrecked a motorcycle, and, more recently, dislocated his right wrist playing in a celebrity charity basketball game. He was a long shot to get to Athens, much less defend his championship.

When the half-dozen Americans who would represent the United States in Greco-Roman wrestling arrived at Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport three weeks ago, the first sight they encountered was an Olympic billboard displaying the message, in English, "Welcome home". Rulon let out a whoop of joy.

"My sport is one of the two original Olympic sports," Rulon explained at the time. "Winning an Olympic gold medal was a dream come true, but to do it here, in the birthplace of the Olympics, would be even greater. I can't tell you how much it would mean to me."

If Rulon had been an overwhelming underdog against Karelin in Sydney, he was an underdog in Athens last week for entirely different reasons.

Two winters ago an ill-advised snowmobiling adventure got him lost overnight in six feet of snow in the Wyoming wilderness. Despite two dunks in an icy river and 12 hours up to his armpits in snow, he survived, but the experience nearly cost him both legs. In the end doctors were able to save his feet, apart from the middle toe on his right foot, which had to be amputated.

As a result of this mishap, Rulon retains an unusual souvenir in his refrigerator back home. He keeps the pickled toe in a jar of formaldehyde. It won't stay there forever; Rulon's long-range plan is to bury the digit in the grave of his dog Bo, who died a few years ago.

"That way part of me will always be with him," the wrestler explained.

Last year in Colorado he crashed his motorcycle on the way to a training session. Rulon came away with bumps, bruises, and the odd scratch, but the bike was totalled. A few months after that he was playing in the celebrity hoops game when he went diving into the bleachers in pursuit of a loose ball and dislocated his wrist. Greco-Roman wrestlers can make do with nine toes, but two functioning wrists are fairly essential.

"My wrist ended up on top of my forearm," recalled Rulon. "I had to pop it back in myself. Later, the doctors had to put three pins on the top of my hand."

Somehow, Rulon fought his way through these sundry maladies to win this year's US trials, which is how he came to spend his 33rd birthday last week attempting to do something not even Zeus had been able to pull off.

And while Rulon did win his second Olympic medal in Athens, this time it wasn't the gold. A 4-1 overtime loss to Georgi Tsurtsumia of Kazakhstan in their semi-final match had left him wrestling for third place last Tuesday night.

Shortly after he had been declared the winner in his bronze medal bout against Iran's Sajad Barzi, Rulon returned to the mat at the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall, sat down, and, with tears streaming down his cheeks, quietly removed his shoes. In symbolic confirmation of his retirement from the sport, the amiable giant bade farewell to the crowd and with a bow and a wave of a miniature American flag he walked away, leaving the shoes at the centre point of the mat.

"I've taken my shoes off for the last time as a wrestler," he said. "For me to come back and win a medal like this, even though it is a bronze, I have no regrets."

Rulon says he hopes to stay involved in his sport, as either a coach or a broadcaster.

A Greco-Roman wrestling broadcaster? Sounds like a promising career choice to us.

After he beat Karelin in Sydney, Rulon turned down multimillion-dollar offers to follow in the footsteps of Hulk Hogan and Sergeant Slaughter on the WWF "wrestling" circuit, reasoning that to engage in that demeaning exercise would make a mockery of his chosen sport.

Now aptly re-christened World Wrestling Entertainment, the series' boss Vince McMahon didn't come calling after Athens, but Rulon has now expressed some interest in helping form a professional tour that would involve authentic wrestlers in real bouts.

"Hopefully that would help athletes get some income," he explained, " because Olympic athletes make very little money."