IDAHO FALLS, Idaho -- Rulon Gardner gave the blanket covering his damaged toes the same kind of stare he had used hundreds of times on his way to an Olympic gold medal.
The same will that helped the heavyweight wrestler beat an unbeatable Russian in Sydney two years ago had miraculously kept him alive through a frozen night in the Wyoming wilderness last week.
Now it seemed he was trying to put it to use to save his toes -- and his wrestling career.
"We're trying to do everything we can do to keep my toes," Gardner said Monday night. "They said it didn't look very good at first but today they look better."
Four days after being airlifted to safety after spending a night in the backcountry, Gardner didn't look like someone who almost died of exposure from a snowmobiling trip that went awry near his family's farm in Afton, Wyo.
Sitting in a chair with IV's hooked to his arm at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, the 30-year-old Gardner talked almost nonstop to a reporter about his night, and the hope he still has for his wrestling future.
Underneath the blanket, though, there was damage to the feet that support the 285-pounder.
"The best case scenario is the toes will come back and everything will regenerate itself," he said. "Then I can resume my career."
When Gardner was found, rescuers didn't give his feet much hope. They had to cut his frozen boots off with a saw used for casts, and what they found inside wasn't promising.
He's listed in fair condition, but the fate of his toes remains in doubt. Doctors have refused to talk about his case specifically, but said toes that are frozen badly seldom recover circulation.
Gardner became a national icon of sorts during the Sydney Olympics, when he stunned Russian Alexander Karelin 1-0 to win the gold medal. Karelin had not lost an international match in 13 years.
The son of a dairy farmer who built up his strength throwing hay bales, Gardner became a huggable hero of sorts who gained fortune and fame but also had time to start a foundation for rare diseases and give inspirational speeches.
Gardner was out for a snowmobile ride before dinner Thursday in Wyoming's Star Valley when he got separated from a friend while trying to climb a ridge in deep snow.
He tried to follow some tracks back along a river, but ended up falling in the icy water and getting even more wet as he crossed it several times looking for a way out.
"My body was trembling and shaking so much," he said. "It was going through torture."
At one point he laid down on a frozen river to rest, knowing that if he didn't get up he wouldn't make it. He was almost too exhausted to care.
"It was so cold. I laid there for 10 or 15 minutes when I said `I got to get out of here or I'm going to die,'" Gardner said.
Sheer will -- the kind that won him that unlikely gold -- and ways to beat the cold that he learned growing up kept him alive for Friday's rescue.
Others might not have lived. Gardner's body temperature had dropped to 88 degrees when he was found, and he was caked with ice.
He may have survived only because he found a cluster of trees and dug into the snow to try to wait the night out. He knew he couldn't sleep long or he would freeze to death, so he put himself in uncomfortable positions so he would sleep only a few minutes at a time.
"When I went to sleep I didn't know if I was going to wake up the next time," he said.
Once during the night he heard the sounds of snowmobiles nearby -- a rescue party. But he couldn't move or make enough noise to summon them.
When morning came, Gardner got up and tried to make his way to a clearing, where he was spotted by a search plane that dropped him a warm coat. But he couldn't get to it, and search crews finally had to bring in a helicopter to get him out.
The same will that helped the heavyweight wrestler beat an unbeatable Russian in Sydney two years ago had miraculously kept him alive through a frozen night in the Wyoming wilderness last week.
Now it seemed he was trying to put it to use to save his toes -- and his wrestling career.
"We're trying to do everything we can do to keep my toes," Gardner said Monday night. "They said it didn't look very good at first but today they look better."
Four days after being airlifted to safety after spending a night in the backcountry, Gardner didn't look like someone who almost died of exposure from a snowmobiling trip that went awry near his family's farm in Afton, Wyo.
Sitting in a chair with IV's hooked to his arm at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, the 30-year-old Gardner talked almost nonstop to a reporter about his night, and the hope he still has for his wrestling future.
Underneath the blanket, though, there was damage to the feet that support the 285-pounder.
"The best case scenario is the toes will come back and everything will regenerate itself," he said. "Then I can resume my career."
When Gardner was found, rescuers didn't give his feet much hope. They had to cut his frozen boots off with a saw used for casts, and what they found inside wasn't promising.
He's listed in fair condition, but the fate of his toes remains in doubt. Doctors have refused to talk about his case specifically, but said toes that are frozen badly seldom recover circulation.
Gardner became a national icon of sorts during the Sydney Olympics, when he stunned Russian Alexander Karelin 1-0 to win the gold medal. Karelin had not lost an international match in 13 years.
The son of a dairy farmer who built up his strength throwing hay bales, Gardner became a huggable hero of sorts who gained fortune and fame but also had time to start a foundation for rare diseases and give inspirational speeches.
Gardner was out for a snowmobile ride before dinner Thursday in Wyoming's Star Valley when he got separated from a friend while trying to climb a ridge in deep snow.
He tried to follow some tracks back along a river, but ended up falling in the icy water and getting even more wet as he crossed it several times looking for a way out.
"My body was trembling and shaking so much," he said. "It was going through torture."
At one point he laid down on a frozen river to rest, knowing that if he didn't get up he wouldn't make it. He was almost too exhausted to care.
"It was so cold. I laid there for 10 or 15 minutes when I said `I got to get out of here or I'm going to die,'" Gardner said.
Sheer will -- the kind that won him that unlikely gold -- and ways to beat the cold that he learned growing up kept him alive for Friday's rescue.
Others might not have lived. Gardner's body temperature had dropped to 88 degrees when he was found, and he was caked with ice.
He may have survived only because he found a cluster of trees and dug into the snow to try to wait the night out. He knew he couldn't sleep long or he would freeze to death, so he put himself in uncomfortable positions so he would sleep only a few minutes at a time.
"When I went to sleep I didn't know if I was going to wake up the next time," he said.
Once during the night he heard the sounds of snowmobiles nearby -- a rescue party. But he couldn't move or make enough noise to summon them.
When morning came, Gardner got up and tried to make his way to a clearing, where he was spotted by a search plane that dropped him a warm coat. But he couldn't get to it, and search crews finally had to bring in a helicopter to get him out.