Gardner Advances, Vering Eliminated in Olympic Competition

Athens, Greece -- Former Nebraska wrestler Rulon Gardner moved into the semifinals in the 120kg Greco-Roman weight class in the Olympics in Athens, Greece. Former Husker Brad Vering, wrestling at 84kg, was eliminated in pool competition with a record of 1-1.

Gardner, an All-American at NU in the heavyweight division in 1993 and a gold medalist in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, was 3-0 in pool wrestling and received a bye through the quarterfinals to the semis, where he’ll take on Georgiy Tsurtsumia of Kazakhastan tomorrow.

In his first match of the day, Gardner shut out Mindaugas Mizgaitis of Lithuania 3-0. Against Sergei Mourieko of Bulgaria, Gardner won in overtime because he had one fewer passivity call in the 1-1 match. Gardner picked up his second shut out of the day with a 3-0 triumph over Marek Mikulski of Poland.

Vering, the 2000 197-pound national champion at NU, fell in his first match in the 84kg weight class to Egypt’s Mohammed Abd El Fatah 4-0. In his second match, Vering collected a victory by injury default over Murhban Vakhtangadze of Georgia. El Fatah advanced to the quarterfinals due to his 2-0 record in the pool.