USA's Rulon Gardner stuns undefeated "Russian Bear" Aleksandr Karelin in Olympic epic

This was arguably the biggest upset in sports history. Karelin was the most dominant wrestler in the history of the sport. Prior to this loss he had stood undefeated for 13 years. He hadn't given up a single point in six years. Going six years without giving up a point is absolutely insane. He has a suplex named after him (the Karelin Lift) because he was the only person in the sport who was strong enough to lift the big boys in his weight class off the ground. His PhD thesis was titled "Methods of execution of suplex throw counters." He is a national hero in Russia and went into politics after retiring from wrestling.

Meanwhile, Rulon Gardner was your average cornfed Wyoming farm boy (he literally grew up on a dairy farm). After the 2000 Olympics he went on to win bronze at the 2004 Olympics and then basically fell of the face of the earth. He ballooned up to almost 500 lbs and his biggest claim to fame since the Olympics was appearing on a season of The Biggest Loser.

Yet none of that really matters. He will forever be remembered as the man who toppled The Russian Bear by scoring a point on a foul and spending the rest of the match flopping around on his belly, Karelin trying in vain to lift him off the mat but unable to because of his bowling ball shaped body. He embarrassed Karelin so badly that Karelin retired from competition immediately following the match. What a legend.