LES GUTCHES, SANDRA BACHER AND RULON GARDNER NAMED 1997 ATHLETES OF THE YEAR BY U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE 
   1997 World Champion Les Gutches (Corvallis, Ore./Sunkist Kids), 1997 World silver medalist Sandra Bacher (San Jose, Calif./Dave Schultz WC) and 1997 U.S. World team member Rulon Gardner (Gilbert, Ariz./Sunkist Kids) have been named the Athletes of the Year for wrestling by the United States Olympic Committee.  
   Gutches received the award as the top Male Freestyle Wrestler, Bacher as the top Female Freestyle Wrestler and Gardner as the top Male Greco-Roman Wrestler. It was the first time any of these athletes have received this prestigious award. 
   Athletes are nominated by the national governing bodies and disabled sports organizations. These Athletes of the Year will be reviewed by a selection committee and may become eligible for the 1997 USOC SportsMan and SportsWoman of the Year award, which will be announced in December. 
   Two-time Olympic Champion John Smith is the only wrestler to win the USOC SportsMan of the Year when he was honored in 1990. No woman wrestler has ever won the USOC SportsWoman of the Year. 
   Gutches was the 1997 World Champion in freestyle wrestling at 187.25 pounds, the top U.S. wrestling performance in 1997. His victory led the United States to a sixth place finish in the tournament. 
   Gutches defeated Eldar Assanov of Ukraine in gold-medal finals, in a 1-1 overtime referee¹s decision. The key win for Gutches in the tournament came in the semifinals, where he beat 1996 Olympic Champion Khadzimurad Magomedov of Russia, 3-2 in overtime. 
   He won five matches on the way to the gold medal. For his outstanding achievement, Gutches was named the USOC¹s SportsMan of the Month in August. 
   Gutches won every competition that he entered in 1997, including the 1997 Freestyle World Team Trials in Las Vegas, Nev. in May, and the 1997 U.S. National Championships in Orlando, Fla. in April. It was his second straight national title.  
   In order to make the U.S. team, Gutches had to beat 1992 Olympic champion and two-time World Champion Kevin Jackson in finals of the U.S. Nationals and World Team Trials. Jackson is considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, and the bouts were fierce and intense. 
    Gutches recovered from back surgery early in season. He was a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, placing seventh at 180.5 pounds.  
   He competes for the Sunkist Kids, and was a two-time NCAA Champion for Oregon State University. He is an assistant wrestling coach for Oregon State. 
   Bacher won a silver medal at the Women¹s World Wrestling Championships at 149.5 pounds in Clermont-Ferrand, France in July. She was one of three U.S. World silver medalists, leading the U.S. team to a third place finish, its best finish ever at the World Championships. 
   Bacher placed second in 1997 Pan American Championships in San Juan, Puerto, Rico in May. Her only losses in the World Championships and Pan American Championships were to three-time World Champion Christine Nordhagen of Canada. 
   Bacher claimed a gold medal at the 1997 World Team Trials in Sacramento, Calif. in June, her third straight year on the U.S. World Team. She also claimed a gold medal at the 1997 U.S. Nationals Championships in Orlando, Fla. in April, her second career national title. Among her other achievements was a bronze medal at the 1997 Gilbert Schaub Open in France in February. 
   Bacher is also a World class judo athlete. She was a member of the 1992 and 1996 U.S. Olympic judo teams. Bacher is a member of the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club. She attended San Jose State University and attended Franklin High School in Washington. She works as a substitute teachers aid. 
   Gardner placed fifth at 286 pounds at the Greco-Roman World Wrestling Championships in Wroclaw, Poland in September. It was the top U.S. Greco-Roman performance. 
   His only losses at the World Championships were to three-time Olympic Champion Alexander Karelin of Russia in the semifinals and to 1992 Olympic Champion Hector Millian of Cuba in the wrestlebacks. 
   Gardner won four gold medals in 1997. This included two international events, the Pytlasinski Grand Prix in Poland in July and the Sunkist Kids/ASU International Open in Tempe, Ariz. in October. He also won the U.S. National Championships in Orlando, Fla. in April and the Greco-Roman World Team Trials in Minneapolis, Minn in June. It was his second career U.S. Nationals title, and he qualified for his first U.S. World Team. 
   Gardner placed second in the Pan American Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Concord Cup International in Concord, Calif., both in May. He was also third in the Granma Cup in Cuba in February and ninth in the Poddubny Tournament in Russia in March. 
   Gardner was an NCAA Div. I All-American for the Univ. of Nebraska, and was also a NJCAA junior college national champion for Ricks College. He attended Star Valley High School in Wyoming.