Rulon Gardner to appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Weds., July 28
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
07/27/2004
2000 Olympic wrestling champion and 2004 U.S. Olympic Team member Rulon Gardner (Cascade, Colo./Sunkist Kids) will appear as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Weds., July 28. This popular show airs on NBC, starting at 11:35 p.m. Eastern time. Check your local listings for time and channel in your location. Also appearing as guests during the Wednesday night show are actor Adrien Brody and musician Robbie Williams. Gardner has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno before. He was a guest on the show after his stunning victory at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, where he defeated three-time Olympic champion and previously unbeaten Alexander Kareline of Russia in the gold-medal finals at super heavyweight in Greco-Roman wrestling. Gardner will compete at 120 kg/264.5 pounds in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. To make the U.S. team, he defeated 2002 World Champion Dremiel Byers (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wrestling in Indianapolis, Ind., May 21-23. Gardner had a life-threatening accident in 2002, getting lost in the winter night in the Wyoming mountains during snowmobile trip, suffering frostbite and losing a toe to amputation. In just a year, he went through rehabilitation and was back on the mat. He has now qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team again. He will attempt to defend his Olympic title in Athens, August 24-25. He is currently in training with the other U.S. Olympic Team members in Greco-Roman at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. in final preparations before leaving for Athens in early August. Jay Leno follows in the footsteps of legendary NBC late-night hosts Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. Having celebrated the show's 11th anniversary in May 2003, Leno has created his own unique late-night style with a combination of humor, talk and entertainment each night at 11:35 p.m. ET - the wee hours when viewers want to wind down with a few laughs before drifting off to dreamland. Considered by many to be a "variety" show, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" features a nightly monologue and news-making guests, as well as ongoing comedy segments including "Headlines," "Request Line," "Tonight Show Side Show," "Jaywalking" and "Battle of Jaywalking All-Stars." The result is a unique look at today's pop culture. Many of the world's most popular celebrities, musical guests and newsworthy names have recently appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." In addition to the star-power, the "Tonight Show" production team searches for the most interesting "civilian" guests such as kid inventors and individuals with quirky talents and funny stories. Guitarist Kevin Eubanks is the show's bandleader. Debbie Vickers is the executive producer. "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" is from Big Dog Productions in association with NBC Studios.