LINCOLN, Neb. – A former Husker and gold-medal winner is getting back onto the wrestling mat.

Rulon Gardner, who was an All-American wrestler at Nebraska before scoring one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history in the 2000 Olympic gold medal round, announced this weekend that he has entered the U.S. Open.

The 51-year-old will wrestle in the senior Greco-Roman tournament at 130 kg.

Gardner is a Wyoming native who now lives in Utah.

Gardner has expressed a desire to make a comeback, with an eye on the 2024 Olympics.

If Gardner were to pull off the improbable, it wouldn’t be the first time. He defeated Russian Aleksandr Karelin in the 2000 Olympic heavyweight final in Sydney, handing Karelin his first loss in 13 years.

In 2002, he had a toe amputated after a snowmobile accident. He came back to win Olympic bronze the 2004 games in Athens, leaving his shoes on the mat to indicate his retirement.

In 2007, Gardner survived a plane crash by swimming for more than an hour in 44-degree water.

He filed for bankruptcy in 2012, losing his Olympic medals in the process. He was able to regain his medals in 2020.

Gardner hasn’t competed since a 2012 comeback attempt in which he tried to qualify for the 2012 Olympics but failed after he could not make weight.

Before attending Nebraka, Gardner was a junior college national champion at Ricks College. While in junior college, he and his first wife lost their daughter in a car accident.

He then went on wrestle in Lincoln, finishing as an All-American in 1993 for the Huskers.