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Two posts.
There was supposed to be a happy ending. Kurt Angle‘s gold medal bout had just finished, ending in a 1-1 tie. The winner of the gold would no longer be decided by Angle or his opponent, the celebrated Iranian wrestler Abbas Jadidi, as it became an Olympic official’s decision. The referee returned to the center of the mat with the verdict and held the wrists of both wrestlers. Jadidi’s arm began to go up, and Angle’s heart sunk.
Angle was surrounded by family at every match, but the two men he needed most were missing. His father, David Angle, died 11 years prior in a gruesome construction accident, leaving his mother and a family of five children without a father. Angle’s USA wrestling coach, David Schultz, was murdered months prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics. The gunman was amateur wrestling sponsor John du Pont, who killed Schultz while his wife watched in horror as she instantly became a widow. With those two men lying in their graves, Angle needed that wrestling mat more than ever. The blue tarp was his solace. His comfort was found in excruciating 10-hour training sessions, working with his teammates, covered in sweat and tears, literally coaching himself.
Just as swiftly as the referee appeared to raise Jadidi’s hand, the pendulum swung. Jadidi had used his own force to raise his arm, and the referee brought it back down. Angle’s right arm was lifted and he dropped to his knees, capturing a gold medal to cement his place as one of the greatest wrestlers ever.
Little did he know, his pain was only beginning.
Angle, now performing with TNA Impact Wrestling, wrestled at the Lowell Auditorium this past Sunday for the “Hardcore Justice” pay per view. Still a major attraction in the world of professional wrestling, Angle lists his gold medal as his career’s defining moment.
“Without a doubt, it’s the top,” Angle said. “There was just all the hard work and there were all the guys I trained with for 10 hours a day every single day. Losing Dave [Schultz] and my dad, and everything my family sacrificed — they don’t have a lot of money, but they showed up at every match I had — there was just a lot of hard work, not just on my part, but from my whole family. It was the happiest day of my life, but it was also the most depressing day of my life.”
Angle’s problems continue to this day. His rap sheet with law enforcement is not pretty. He was arrested in 2007 for driving under the influence in his home state of Pennsylvania, then twice more for alcohol-related charges in 2011. He entered rehab this past summer after yet another DWI arrest. So many of his demons, he now admits, stem from the day the gold was placed around his neck at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
“I fell into depression after the Olympics,” Angle said. “How do I go above what I did? That’s a lot of the reason I’ve had so many personal problems. I was only trying to outdo my Olympic gold medal experience, and nothing would give me the satisfaction.”
Outside of a shaved head, the 45-year-old Angle looks nearly the same as he did a decade ago. His physique is still ripped and chiseled, and he is as daring in his wrestling as ever. A deeper look into his eyes is necessary to reveal his pain. Life hammered him with blows much more vicious than anything he felt inside the ring.
Angle has competed with himself for these last 17 years, trying to do outdo himself. He signed an eight-year contract with Vince McMahon‘s World Wrestling Entertainment in 1998 and quickly won over the professional wrestling community.
“I didn’t watch pro wrestling before I started,” Angle said, “but I became obsessed by it. I studied it, worked it, watched it. I was watching old tapes and anything I could to get better. I was just a really good listener. I had Triple H, Undertaker, [Steve] Austin, and The Rock telling me what to do. Instead of ignoring them, I kept an open mind. The more I did that, the quicker I learned.”
Angle was surprised at how quickly he caught on, yet noted the transition was not as easy as it appeared.
“What I did is I forgot everything I had learned for the past 25 years,” Angle admitted. “Nobody scored on me, nobody did anything to me in amateur wrestling, so I had to learn how to be humbled. Once I did that, it was easier for me to learn.”
Angle’s success in pro wrestling mirrored his achievements on the amateur mat. He didn’t begin amateur wrestling until the eighth grade, but he also quickly developed a successful routine.
“I wasn’t in wrestling very long before I was champion, and that was the same with amateur wrestling,” Angle said. “Even though they are worlds apart, I took a lot of pride in being an Angle. My brothers were all great wrestlers, and I wanted to walk in their footsteps.”
Two posts.
There was supposed to be a happy ending. Kurt Angle‘s gold medal bout had just finished, ending in a 1-1 tie. The winner of the gold would no longer be decided by Angle or his opponent, the celebrated Iranian wrestler Abbas Jadidi, as it became an Olympic official’s decision. The referee returned to the center of the mat with the verdict and held the wrists of both wrestlers. Jadidi’s arm began to go up, and Angle’s heart sunk.
Angle was surrounded by family at every match, but the two men he needed most were missing. His father, David Angle, died 11 years prior in a gruesome construction accident, leaving his mother and a family of five children without a father. Angle’s USA wrestling coach, David Schultz, was murdered months prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics. The gunman was amateur wrestling sponsor John du Pont, who killed Schultz while his wife watched in horror as she instantly became a widow. With those two men lying in their graves, Angle needed that wrestling mat more than ever. The blue tarp was his solace. His comfort was found in excruciating 10-hour training sessions, working with his teammates, covered in sweat and tears, literally coaching himself.
Just as swiftly as the referee appeared to raise Jadidi’s hand, the pendulum swung. Jadidi had used his own force to raise his arm, and the referee brought it back down. Angle’s right arm was lifted and he dropped to his knees, capturing a gold medal to cement his place as one of the greatest wrestlers ever.
Little did he know, his pain was only beginning.
Angle, now performing with TNA Impact Wrestling, wrestled at the Lowell Auditorium this past Sunday for the “Hardcore Justice” pay per view. Still a major attraction in the world of professional wrestling, Angle lists his gold medal as his career’s defining moment.
“Without a doubt, it’s the top,” Angle said. “There was just all the hard work and there were all the guys I trained with for 10 hours a day every single day. Losing Dave [Schultz] and my dad, and everything my family sacrificed — they don’t have a lot of money, but they showed up at every match I had — there was just a lot of hard work, not just on my part, but from my whole family. It was the happiest day of my life, but it was also the most depressing day of my life.”
Angle’s problems continue to this day. His rap sheet with law enforcement is not pretty. He was arrested in 2007 for driving under the influence in his home state of Pennsylvania, then twice more for alcohol-related charges in 2011. He entered rehab this past summer after yet another DWI arrest. So many of his demons, he now admits, stem from the day the gold was placed around his neck at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
“I fell into depression after the Olympics,” Angle said. “How do I go above what I did? That’s a lot of the reason I’ve had so many personal problems. I was only trying to outdo my Olympic gold medal experience, and nothing would give me the satisfaction.”
Outside of a shaved head, the 45-year-old Angle looks nearly the same as he did a decade ago. His physique is still ripped and chiseled, and he is as daring in his wrestling as ever. A deeper look into his eyes is necessary to reveal his pain. Life hammered him with blows much more vicious than anything he felt inside the ring.
Angle has competed with himself for these last 17 years, trying to do outdo himself. He signed an eight-year contract with Vince McMahon‘s World Wrestling Entertainment in 1998 and quickly won over the professional wrestling community.
“I didn’t watch pro wrestling before I started,” Angle said, “but I became obsessed by it. I studied it, worked it, watched it. I was watching old tapes and anything I could to get better. I was just a really good listener. I had Triple H, Undertaker, [Steve] Austin, and The Rock telling me what to do. Instead of ignoring them, I kept an open mind. The more I did that, the quicker I learned.”
Angle was surprised at how quickly he caught on, yet noted the transition was not as easy as it appeared.
“What I did is I forgot everything I had learned for the past 25 years,” Angle admitted. “Nobody scored on me, nobody did anything to me in amateur wrestling, so I had to learn how to be humbled. Once I did that, it was easier for me to learn.”
Angle’s success in pro wrestling mirrored his achievements on the amateur mat. He didn’t begin amateur wrestling until the eighth grade, but he also quickly developed a successful routine.
“I wasn’t in wrestling very long before I was champion, and that was the same with amateur wrestling,” Angle said. “Even though they are worlds apart, I took a lot of pride in being an Angle. My brothers were all great wrestlers, and I wanted to walk in their footsteps.”
