Rulon Gardner talks with NBC’s Harry Smith at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in February. Cory Kness photo.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Rulon Gardner’s weight class will compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in nine days.

And he plans to be there.

The 40-year-old Olympic and World wrestling champion is looking to qualify for his third Olympic Games as a Greco-Roman heavyweight.

His weight class of 120 kg/264.5 lbs. is scheduled to compete on April 21 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

“It would be huge to have another opportunity to win the Olympics,” Gardner said. “I still have another nine days to get ready for the Trials. I want to make sure I’m prepared and ready to go. My training is going awesome.”

Gardner won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games before winning a World title in 2001. He then won an Olympic bronze medal in 2004 before retiring.

2002 World champion Dremiel Byers has made all six U.S. World Teams and the 2008 Olympic Team at heavyweight since then. Byers won a World bronze medal in 2007 and a World silver medal in 2009. He placed fifth in the World in 2010.

Gardner would have to win the Challenge Tournament to earn a shot at Byers in the best-of-3 finals at the Olympic Trials. Byers, 37, won the Pan American Olympic Qualifier last month to qualify the U.S. for the Olympic Games at 120 kilos in Greco-Roman.

“He’s the man,” Gardner said of Byers. “He’s been the man for seven years. He’s won three World medals. I just hope I get to that point and beat the other guys to get to Byers in the finals. Dremiel is athletic and physical, and he’s very driven. He wants to be the best, and I have the same dream. If I don’t make the team, I want Byers to make the team and win a medal for our country.”

Gardner, whose decision to return to wrestling was launched when he appeared on NBC’s “Biggest Loser” television show last year, said his weight has started to drop for the Trials. His class will weigh-in on April 20, the day before competition.

“I am at the place I want to be right now,” he said. “My weight is coming down. It’s obviously a concern because I haven’t made weight in eight years, but I definitely feel like I am going to get down to the weight.”

Gardner also has had to adjust to a new set of rules, where matches are shorter than they were when he last competed.

“It’s been a small adjustment, and the rules feel natural to me now,” he said. “I watched a lot of Greco through broadcasting the 2008 Olympics for NBC. It’s a cat-and-mouse game now. The matches are shorter now, and I have to win certain positions and score in the first period. There are different varieties of scenarios now, and I find it intriguing. It’s still wrestling, and I still get more powerful and stronger during the duration of a match.”

Gardner said he is aware he still has his share of doubters entering the Trials.

“At 40 years old, I’m not the spring chicken I used to be,” he said. “I’ve had people doubt me before and that’s fine. I wasn’t supposed to beat (1996 Olympic silver medalist) Matt Ghaffari to make the Olympic Team in 2000. I think a lot of people doubted whether I could beat Byers in 2004. I just want the opportunity and the chance to compete.”

Gardner said he has been doing four workouts a day at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He said he injured his hamstring 2½ weeks ago, but is now back to around “70 or 80 percent” physically.

“Rulon has been training as hard as anyone in our room over the last five or six months,” U.S. National Coach Steve Fraser said. “Time will tell what his chances are.”

Gardner’s only competition since 2004 was the Kiki Cup earlier this year in Colorado Springs. He went 4-0 in that event.

“It’s been eight years since I’ve wrestled in an official tournament,” he said. “But I have been training for the past year, and I did wrestle some matches in the Kiki Cup. Wrestling is something I’ve done my whole life, and it is still second nature for me.”