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(More customer reviews)"Never Stop Pushing" is the autobiography of Rulon Gardner, who staged one of the biggest-ever upsets in Olympic history by defeating the long-standing Russian world champion Alexander Karelin in the 2000 Sydney Games Greco-Roman heavyweight wrestling final.
Gardner's story shocked and surprised me since his gold-medal achievement makes up only part of the book. Instead, as Gardner himself states, the most remarkable time of his life was, ironically, his near-fatal accident whilst snow-mobiling near his Wyoming home. The moment-by-moment depiction of his struggle to survive a freezing cold night while waiting to be rescued forms the centerpiece of the narrative. The description of his ordeal is interspersed with details of his wrestling career and is recounted in full later on in the book.
Gardner also describes his childhood, which is something quite apart from the normal experience of most modern-day Americans. Brought up as the youngest of a large Mormon farming family, he spent long periods alone laying irrigation pipes and milking cows and lived quite an isolated life. At school he looked forward to meeting kids his own age but instead his learning disability set him apart and he made few friends.
His struggles to go to college and get a degree, like his brothers and sisters, form another substantial part of the book. You end up rooting for him to succeed.
Rulon comes across as an immensely likeable, soft-hearted guy. A few of his experiences struck a chord with me and I shuddered slightly as I recognised myself a little in the text. I particularly enjoyed his honesty - he describes crying on the way to an out-of-state wrestling meet after his coach tells him off for being late. I can't imagine many celebrities being that truthful.
NSP is by turns sad, joyful, entertaining and exciting. You get to learn about the politics of sport and how hard it can be for minority sports athletes to pursue their dreams. I would have liked a little more detail at times, for example, Gardner tells us he has bought a house in Colorado and you think, When? Why? but overall this is a remarkably well structured and pacy autobiography.
As an afterthought, I'm reminded of something Vince Lombardi said,
"It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever - the one who recognises the challenges and does something about it."
I guess you could say that this book shows that Rulon Gardner is a supreme "doer" and a true champion of sport.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Never Stop Pushing: My Life from a Wyoming Farm to the Olympic Medals Stand
Never Stop Pushing is a motivational autobiography by Olympic Greco-Roman champion wrestler Rulon Gardner (Gold Medal, 2000; Bronze Medal, 2004). This inspiring memoir comes from one of the world's most remarkable athletes who achieved arguably the greatest upset in individual sports history when he defeated the Russian Alexander Karelin - three-time Olympic champ, undefeated and unscored upon for a decade before his match with Gardner - in the 2000 Gold Medal match. Rulon Gardner tells the story of his impoverished upbringing as one of nine children in a close-knit Mormon family on a farm in Wyoming, where in performing unceasing chores he developed tremendous strength at an early age. Gardner writes about his struggles in school made arduous by learning disabilities that have challenged him his whole life. Also, after winning his Gold Medal, we read how this champion survived a snowmobile accident that marooned him outdoors for eighteen hours in high country. Rulon Gardner recovered from this and went on to defend his Gold Medal at Athens in 2004-yet another comeback from this athlete who was supposed to simply fade away.
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