Rulon's wrestling career began when he was six years old. For one week every year, Star Valley would have a wrestling camp, which always concluded with a tournament on the weekend. Rulon participated in this from six years old until he started junior high school at 12 years old. Rulon began a regular wrestling season while in junior high and continued with the wrestling seasons until he graduated from the University of Nebraska.
A modern-day Paul Bunyan, Rulon Gardner grew up on his Mormon family's dairy farm, where unceasing chores helped him develop tremendous strength and stamina at an early age. He struggled in school due to learning disabilities and was often the butt of his classmates' jokes. Yet Gardner found success in wrestling, which allowed him to pursue his college degree and instilled within him the confidence and drive that took him to the center of world sport. Behind one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history is Gardner 's moving tale of obstacles overcome by his indefatigable will to succeed.
At the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, a determined Wyoming farm boy defeated the greatest Olympic wrestler of all time in "The Miracle on the Mat." Four years later, after a near fatal accident in the frozen Wyoming wilderness, a tearful Rulon Gardner touched the hearts of sports fans everywhere when he left his shoes on the mat, symbolizing his retirement after winning an Olympic Bronze. Now, in a memoir for anyone who has dreamed about beating the odds, for anyone who believes in blue-collar heroes, comes Never Stop Pushing.