Bruce Baumgartner

Bruce Baumgartner ranked as one of the top super-heavyweight freestyle wrestlers for more than a decade. Winning his first World Championship medal (bronze) in 1983, he won the gold in Los Angeles. He confirmed his status with the East European wrestlers present in 1986, winning his first of three world titles. In his second Olympic final in Seoul, he lost to Georgian Davit Gobejishvili. Four years later, he won a rematch in Barcelona, en route to his second Olympic title.

After world titles in 1993 and 1995, Baumgartner was favored to win his third gold in Atlanta, but a defeat against Russia’s Andrey Shumilin left him with a bronze medal. In addition to his World and Olympic titles, Baumgartner amassed three golds at the Pan American Games, 17 American titles and eight World Cup wins. In 1995, he was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award (for the outstanding American amateur athlete) and in 2008 he was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame.