Gardner, protesters square off at Acropolis

By Don Yaeger, SI.com

Former Olympic wrestling champion Rulon Gardner found himself in a political face-off during a visit to the Acropolis on Saturday morning.

Gardner, who retired from his sport on Wednesday after winning a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 120-kilogram class, climbed to the Athens hilltop with his wife, parents, brother, sister and in-laws to take in the view and see the famed Parthenon.

When they reached the top, however, they encountered about 35 Communist protesters, who had hung a banner that read: POWEL (sic) KILLER GO HOME, referring to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who on Saturday canceled his planned trip to Athens to attend the Olympic closing ceremonies. "I tried not to let it bother me," Gardner told SI.com of the banner.

After walking around, Gardner and his family decided to have their photo taken with an American flag and the Parthenon in the background. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a U.S. flag, which began flapping in the strong wind. Upon seeing it, the protesters began booing and hissing at Gardner, and a uniformed security guard came up to him. According to Gardner, he and the guard had the following exchange:

"Please put your flag away," the guard told him.

"Wait -- what's fair about this?" Gardner replied, gesturing to the anti-U.S. banner.

"Look, their [banner] was already up here. We wish they had taken it down. Please give me your flag."

"I will not give you my flag," responded Gardner.

"I wasn't trying to start an incident, so after a few minutes I tucked [the flag] back into my backpack," said Gardner, who won a gold medal in Sydney in the Greco-Roman 130-kilogram class.

"But from there on, for the rest of our time at the Acropolis, there was extra security around us. As we were getting ready to leave, we walked back near where the banner was hanging and the Communists were sitting. I was wearing a USA shirt. They started hissing at me. My brother [Reynold, a former Oregon State wrestler] came over next to me. He's 6-3, 300. I think they realized it was something they didn't want to mess with."