WATCH: On this day in 1996, Kurt Angle clinched Wrestling gold medal at Atlanta Olympics with 'broken freaking neck'
Olympic Games: Kurt Angle won the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics 1996 on this day. The WWE Superstar achieved the sensational feat with a broken neck.
On this day in 1996, Kurt Angle won the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics 1996 in Wrestling with a broken neck. The achievement of Angle was sensational considering he had the injury for the entire tournament and even before it from the trials. In his autobiography, Angle spoke about the challenges he had to clinch the medal.
There was a lot of drama in the final, as the judges were split about their decisions. In the end, Kurt Angle had the favour of the judges as he celebrated the win with the home crowd. In some of the interviews, Angle shared his experience of Wrestling with pain. Kurt said that he encountered a lot of moments where he felt doubtful about taking part in the Olympics.
Watch Kurt Angle's Olympic gold medal match here -
The star wrestler said that it was difficult for him to get a doctor who could give him clearance to wrestle. Angle claimed that his neck was broken and three of his discs that were connecting to his spinal cord straightly were displaced. The WWE Hall of Famer claimed that no doctor would've cleared him at that point given how serious the injury was.
'Back then I was young, dumb, and didn't care about my health' - Kurt Angle
"Back then I was young and dumb, 26 years old, I didn't care about my health. I just wanted to get back into the game. I didn’t have a choice it was no guarantee I was going to make the Olympic team in 2000 or 2004, this is my one time. This is my one shot," added Kurt in one of his interviews. The former TNA star revealed how he won the final.
Kurt spoke about a point that wasn't allotted to him by the referees. He felt the judges realized their mistake to allot him the points. Kurt felt he had the advantage given the performance in the ending moments of the match. "The reason I won is that I did take him down at the end of overtime and two of the officials didn't give me the point yet. The head official did," Angle added.