Cosby
02-27-2007, 02:14 AM
This is insane... God has it out for this dude. Let me just point out that whenever water+air <100 F you're at SERIOUS risk for hypothermia. The combined temp here is about 70 degrees...
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2007-02-26-gardner-plane-crash_x.htm
Olympian Gardner survives small plane crash
Updated 2/26/2007 12:17 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this Subscribe to stories like this
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Olympic wrestling champion Rulon Gardner and two Utah men survived a plane crash in Lake Powell, then spent more than an hour swimming to shore in 44-degree water and huddled together overnight as the temperature fell below freezing.
They were rescued Sunday morning by a fisherman.
This is not the first time, he has survived a life-threatening accident. In 2002, he became stranded while snowmobiling in the Wyoming wilderness and lost one of his toes to frostbite. Then in 2004, he was struck by an automobile while riding a motorcycle.
"I knew there was a lot of blessings to get to the shore," Gardner told KSL-TV. "You know, it was so surreal. It was like this isn't happening to me."
SPORTS SCOPE: Gardner's tales of survival and prosperity
Gardner was a passenger in the Cirrus SR 22, along with pilot Randy Brooks and his brother, Leslie Brooks, when it crashed Saturday near the Utah-Arizona border. They were able to get out of the plane before it sank.
"I just got too close to the water and went in. There was nothing wrong with the airplane or anything. I just screwed up," Randy Brooks, 58, told The Salt Lake Tribune.
The men swam for more than an hour to reach shore in Good Hope Bay, with Gardner at times doing the backstroke so "I could breathe."
"I could kick with my feet if my arms got tired, and I just started kicking across the lake," he told KSL.
They spent Saturday night on shore without shelter, wearing wet T-shirts and jeans as the temperature dipped into the 20s.
The next morning a fisherman took them to Bullfrog Marina where they were examined by National Park Service medics.
"Miraculously the three sustained no life-threatening injuries, mainly suffering from hypothermia injuries to their feet," Garfield County authorities said in a statement.
A Brooks relative flew from Las Vegas and took them north to American Fork for medical attention.
Their survival is "pretty amazing," said Steven Luckesen, a district ranger at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
It takes only about 30 minutes for someone swimming in 44-degree water to start suffering the effects of hypothermia, he said.
"If these guys were a cat with nine lives, they just used up three of them," Luckesen said.
The cause of the crash was under investigation.
Gardner pulled one of the most stunning upsets in Olympic history at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, winning the gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling by ending Alexander Karelin's 13-year international winning streak.
In 2004 in Athens, Gardner won the bronze medal, and in wrestling tradition, left his shoes on the mat as a symbolic way of announcing his retirement.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2007-02-26-gardner-plane-crash_x.htm
Olympian Gardner survives small plane crash
Updated 2/26/2007 12:17 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this Subscribe to stories like this
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Olympic wrestling champion Rulon Gardner and two Utah men survived a plane crash in Lake Powell, then spent more than an hour swimming to shore in 44-degree water and huddled together overnight as the temperature fell below freezing.
They were rescued Sunday morning by a fisherman.
This is not the first time, he has survived a life-threatening accident. In 2002, he became stranded while snowmobiling in the Wyoming wilderness and lost one of his toes to frostbite. Then in 2004, he was struck by an automobile while riding a motorcycle.
"I knew there was a lot of blessings to get to the shore," Gardner told KSL-TV. "You know, it was so surreal. It was like this isn't happening to me."
SPORTS SCOPE: Gardner's tales of survival and prosperity
Gardner was a passenger in the Cirrus SR 22, along with pilot Randy Brooks and his brother, Leslie Brooks, when it crashed Saturday near the Utah-Arizona border. They were able to get out of the plane before it sank.
"I just got too close to the water and went in. There was nothing wrong with the airplane or anything. I just screwed up," Randy Brooks, 58, told The Salt Lake Tribune.
The men swam for more than an hour to reach shore in Good Hope Bay, with Gardner at times doing the backstroke so "I could breathe."
"I could kick with my feet if my arms got tired, and I just started kicking across the lake," he told KSL.
They spent Saturday night on shore without shelter, wearing wet T-shirts and jeans as the temperature dipped into the 20s.
The next morning a fisherman took them to Bullfrog Marina where they were examined by National Park Service medics.
"Miraculously the three sustained no life-threatening injuries, mainly suffering from hypothermia injuries to their feet," Garfield County authorities said in a statement.
A Brooks relative flew from Las Vegas and took them north to American Fork for medical attention.
Their survival is "pretty amazing," said Steven Luckesen, a district ranger at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
It takes only about 30 minutes for someone swimming in 44-degree water to start suffering the effects of hypothermia, he said.
"If these guys were a cat with nine lives, they just used up three of them," Luckesen said.
The cause of the crash was under investigation.
Gardner pulled one of the most stunning upsets in Olympic history at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, winning the gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling by ending Alexander Karelin's 13-year international winning streak.
In 2004 in Athens, Gardner won the bronze medal, and in wrestling tradition, left his shoes on the mat as a symbolic way of announcing his retirement.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.