He takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Seriously, he needs to be more careful. From today's local newspaper:

Olympian soars safely away from cycle crash

By MERI-JO BORZILLERI and MARK REIS - THE GAZETTE

Farm boy Rulon Gardner won unexpected Olympic wrestling gold in 2000.

Tuesday morning, he added a chapter to a growing legend by escaping serious injury when his motorcycle hit a car while he was riding to practice at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

In a chain of events that gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi would envy, Gardner was catapulted off his Harley Davidson, flew about 12 feet high upside down, cleared the car, and landed on his left shoulder and arm before bouncing to his feet, a witness said.

He walked away with minor abrasions and bruises.

Gardner was not wearing a helmet. He was not hospitalized, but was treated at the training center’s sports medicine office.

“I thank the good Lord for this,” Gardner said. “He definitely has blessed me.”

Gardner won gold in Sydney, Australia, by beating a Russian behemoth in what some have dubbed the “Miracle on the Mat.” Two years ago, he cheated death in the Wyoming mountains when he spent a night in subzero temperatures after being stranded snowmobiling near his hometown. Rescuers found him barely alive, suffering from hypothermia. He had one frostbitten toe amputated.

Nine lives? Counting the snowmobile incident, farm mishaps, a previously unrevealed dirt-bike accident and now this, Gardner said, “I think I have two left.”

Gardner, 32, estimates he was traveling about 30 mph when his motorcycle hit a car coming out of an alley. The driver, a 27-year-old woman, pulled out behind a parked vehicle into Gardner’s path.

The driver, who complained of neck pain, was cited for failure to yield right of way.

Gardner, anticipating the collision, stood up to protect his legs, the first in an extraordinary sequence of self-preservation moves.

“As soon as I hit her, I kind of jumped,” Gardner said. “I stood up right as I was getting impact. I kind of pushed the handlebars . . . and endoed over the bike.

“I remember seeing the ground coming, I remember (thinking) ‘Tuck!’”

Gardner, who lives in Cascade, figures he flew about 15 feet before landing.

“I’d like to have that on video,” Gardner said.