Rulon Gardner-impaled on arrow, lost toes to frost bite, cycle crash and now airplane crash

[underpants]

If you don't remember he performed one of the greatest upsets in the history of recorded sport when he beat the seemingly indistructible Aleksander Karelin in 2000.


He bent over and impaled himself (no harm) on an arrow in the 3rd grade
http://www.rulongardner.com/History.html

Since then

Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner was in a plane that crashed into Lake Powell on Saturday. He has had his brushes with death before; a motorcycle crash in 2004 and surviving a night in Wyoming's back country during a snowmobile outing. He lost a toe to frost bite in that ordeal but it pales in comparison to his latest story of survival.

Gardner, his pilot friend Randy Brooks and Randy's brother, Les were returning from a day at Lake Powell on Brooks' house boat. They were making a return flight in Randy Brooks' Cirrus SR22 single engine plane over the lake. Gardner said they decided to fly low over the water. Brooks banked the plane to the left. "His brother said, 'watch the wheels,' and right as he said that we caught the first wheel… the left rear landing gear, and it skipped us and we skipped one more time," said Gardner, "that's when we made the direct impact with the water."

The plane hit the water at 150 miles per hour. Gardner hit his head on the window on impact. The three men quickly got out of their safety belts and abandoned the sinking craft. Gardner said he tried to grab his coat but had not time. The men jumped in the frigid water. It was just past 2:30 in the afternoon. Gardner said he was disoriented from the bump on his head and he sank quickly at first because of the muscle on his massive frame. He began to panic, he said, but his two friends told him to get on his back and paddle and that calmed him down. The trio was able to get their bearings and head out for the nearest shore which was at least a mile and a half away. Gardner said he focused and made one stroke at a time even though, he could not feel his hands. His goal was to get to the beach before nightfall.












http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=46577767-e502-4704-92f9-a2c34663ed80

[Bunny]

1. Note to self: never get in a vehicle with Rulon Gardner. Ditto the snowmobile trip. And the

archery practice.

:scared:

[NewJeffCT]

2. Heck

I'd never want to be in the same zip code as the guy!

[Bunny]

5. Ah - much more sensible!

:thumbsup: :)

[AngryAmish]

3. Stay away from Rulon Gardner

That boy ain't lucky.

[KitchenWitch]

11. It would appear that he IS lucky

He has survived all these things.

[Katina]

4. seriously, when luck was handed out

he got buckets full. How else do you explain his surviving all of these accidents? Just remember that his "luck" doesn't protect you, so give him a wide berth! :D

[jmowreader]

6. Question for DU's pilot corps

Is it just me, or do Cirruses seem to fall out of the sky a lot more than they should?

Let's see...Cory Lidle killed himself in an SR20, Rulon Gardner damn near killed himself in an SR22...

[fudge stripe cookays]

7. He sounds like the coal heaver on the Titanic...

Frank Tower...the one they called "Lucky Tower" that survived the Titanic, and then I think the Empress of Ireland.

And then there was one last ship-- can't remember if it was the Lusitania or some other ship that got torpedoed in WWI. They quit calling him lucky and figured he was a jinx. Nobody wanted him on their ships!

[guitar man]

8. Haven't lost a toe or been implaed on an arrow...

..but I have had a knife stuck in me, survived an airplane crash and a motorcycle crash, I kinda know how he feels :wow:

[underpants]

10. I just get the sense that he is a rugged outdoors type

I don't know anyone who has gone through those sort of things (other than car wrecks) but we all have our stories of slips and falls and taking big hits and so forth. Rulon just seems to play with lots of toys with engines on them.

[Midlodemocrat]

9. Wow. He's like a cat with nine lives.

:scared: