There was on common utterance throughout the late 90s and 2000s, and it’s Kurt Angle proclaiming far and wide from any wrestling ring that he won a gold medal.
And now he’s celebrating his 25 year anniversary of his win and it’s one of those moments where we never get tired of hearing about it.
For many of us, we know him from his time in WWE and TNA. He was one of the best performers in history and few could push our buttons as a heel more than him.
It got to a point it was so much fun to watch him lose, but then he’d turn face and we’d be fully behind him, cheering him on and laughing along with some of his zany moments.
Those are all awesome memories, but his gold medal win is something many, including him, will always cherish.
On this day 25 years ago, I won the Olympic Gold in freestyle wrestling. #withabrokenfreakinneck 😆No better way to spend my 25 year anniversary than with my beautiful family……My wife and kids said I should buy a boat now. We shall see 😃#25yearsofgold #olympics #1996 pic.twitter.com/y89Ruk3ct8
— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) July 31, 2021
In his own words
Kurt Angle face Abbas Jadidi for Olympic gold in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996, and the rest is history.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the excerpt.
“Jadidi’s bitter reaction to the decision bothered some people, especially some of the 300 friends and family members, who traveled from Pittsburgh to root for me, but I didn’t let it bother me. I had no doubt that I deserved the gold medal. Nobody had worked harder than me during the previous two years and I was going to enjoy it. I felt good that I was able to win it while representing the Dave Schultz Club too.
“Throughout the Olympics, our wrestling team and the wrestling competition overall, received more coverage than usual because of Dave’s murder. The national media suddenly found wrestling interesting, but only because of the sensational nature of John du Pont’s killing of Dave Schultz.
“As much as wrestlers were always starved for attention, the media blitz caused some hard feelings because some got tired after awhile of answering questions about the situation. I didn’t mind because I was always willing to talk about Dave, but some guys found it distracting. The media was also reporting that there was a split on the U.S. team because a few stayed with du Pont’s Foxcatcher club after the incident.
“But anyway, more media coverage meant more attention for me when I won the gold medal. I never answered so many questions in my life as I did that day. Finally, after I posed for all the pictures and the press conference ended, I took my gold medal off and it put around my mom’s neck. I wanted her to have it for everything she’d done for me. As much as I’ve always credited my dad and my brothers and sister for being an inspiration in wrestling, my mom did more for me than anyone throughout my life.” – Kurt Angle, It’s True book.
This is a pretty cool look into the man that would soon don one of the most memorable personas in WWE history, and we’re grateful to have seen him in action and hear his stories.
What’s your favorite Kurt Angle story? Let us know in the comments below.
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