Against All Odds
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by user ActiveSports
When I read that the small plane Gardner was flying in hit the water in a remote part of Lake Powell in southern Utah recently, I had confidence he could beat the odds again. In addition to his Olympic underdog success, he had already survived two accidents. In 2002, he had to have a toe amputated because of frostbite after he was stranded in the wilderness overnight while snowmobiling in Wyoming; two years later, he was hit by a car while riding a motorcycle in Colorado Springs.
The plane crashed and Gardner, 35, and the pilots plunged into 44-degree water, according to the authorities in Garfield County, Utah. They evacuated the plane before it sank, and Gardner said they swam for more than an hour to shore. They huddled overnight on a beach in Good Hope Bay before being rescued by a bass fisherman Sunday morning.
Gardner said that during the swim to shore, he needed constant encouragement from the pilots. Gardner, at 6 feet 2 inches and nearly 300 pounds, said he was not a strong swimmer. "They were the reason I lived through the swimming, because I thought, I'm done," he said. "I would not be here if it weren't for them encouraging me."
Since then, Gardner has made a career of motivational speaking and coaching at wrestling clinics. "You just try to make the best decisions you can," Gardner said. "You just take life as it comes to you and do your best."
(Photos provided by Getty Images/taken by Sean Garnsworthy, Adam Pretty)
