Angle won Olympic gold in the Men’s Freestyle wrestling class in Atlanta in 1996. (AP)
It’s been nearly 16 years since Kurt Angle won his Olympic gold medal. Since then, Angle has had five neck injuries, become a major star for two professional wrestling organizations, has gotten divorced and then remarried.
Now, Angle’s goal is to wrestle again by trying to make Team USA at the age of 43 and represent his country once again at the Olympic Games this summer in London.
“I’ve been wrestling professionally for 12 years and I have been training for the Olympics for seven months. It’s going really well,” Angle told The Post. “I can guarantee that I will either make the Olympic team or be an alternate. I will go over to London and represent my country.”
Angle’s lists of accomplishments in the wrestling world, both professional and amateur, speak for themselves. By age 26, Angle achieved something only four people have ever managed to do. He won the Junior World Championship, NCAA Championship, World Championship and an Olympic gold medal. All before making the jump to the WWE in 1998.
In professional wrestling, Angle has won a championship belt 18 times between the World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action organizations.
But after nearly 12 years of pro wrestling, Angle decided last year to return to his roots as a freestyle amateur wrestler.
Angle juggles a schedule that incorporates his training for the Olympic team along with wrestling at shows for TNA. January will prove to be one tough month for the former gold medal winner. TNA is preparing for its biggest time of the year and heading overseas.
“This month has been a little difficult because we have a lot of dates,” Angle said. “I’m going to wrestle at a wrestling club in Orlando when I’m there for five days, when I go over to England I have a Bulgarian guy that I am going to wrestle with for three or four days. Just to keep me sharp.”
TNA has been completely behind Angle as he prepares for his attempt at making the Olympic team. He is one of the company’s biggest names, after all. Normally, Angle works for the company 20-30 days a month, with long stretches on the road and performing shows.
“Thank God TNA has backed me up. They have supported me. They gave me 25 days a month to train [for the Olympics],” Angle said.
There have been three Olympic Games since Angle won the gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. And despite the passion to come back, Angle had been deterred by other influences in his life.
“[In 2000] I had just joined WWE, [in 2004] I broke my neck, [in 2008] I went through a terrible divorce and then in 2011 everything went well for me,” Angle said. “I felt good, my neck was fine, my body was fine. I knew this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to go for it one more time.”
Angle would be the oldest competitor on the Olympic team, but that does not worry him. The former Olympian believes that when he won in 1996, he was not at his peak. And even though he acknowledges there will be younger wrestlers who are in better shape, he believes he can pull off the incredible.
“My wrestling is awesome right now. It’s smarter. I didn’t have a game plan back in 1996. Now, in 2012, I have a game plan. I know how to beat these guys,” Angle said. “I’m not going to beat [wrestlers] 10-0, I might beat them 1-0, 2-0, but I have a game plan. I know what I need to do. I know how to set the pace for the match and I know how to win the match.”
In order for Angle to make the Olympic team, he will need to place in the top three at the qualifying event in Iowa City in April. If Angle can place first, he will be Team USA’s representative in the 96 kg (211.5 lbs) weight class. If he finishes in second or third, he will be an alternate.
“I really believe I can do well. There’s one guy I’m really nervous about: Jake Varner. He won the silver and bronze medal at the World Championships, but he has never medaled at the Olympics,” Angle said. “I believe I have a chance of beating him though, even at 43.”
Angle is learning quickly that his body is much different now than it was 16 years ago. He has taken a different, more cerebral approach to amateur wrestling. As a brash 26-year-old, Angle was able to rely on conditioning to make up for mistakes he had made, but now, he’d rather sit back and wait to capitalize.
“I’ve got to get ahead near the beginning and hold that lead and make these guys make mistakes,” Angle said. “Wrestlers in the USA are very aggressive. All they want to do is attack, but they’ll make mistakes. When they shoot, the guy will spin around them and then boom, they’re up 3-0.”
In addition to changing his wrestling style, Angle has also changed the way he trains.
“I don’t train like a professional wrestler,” Angle said. “[Professional wrestlers] body-sculpt. It’s a completely different league.”
This will be the second time in his career that Angle has made a transition between the professional and amateur levels. The first time it happened, he fit in immediately.
“It was a complete career adaptation. It wasn’t a step above, going from amateur wrestling to pro wrestling, it was going from real wrestling to sports entertainment,” Angle said. “A lot of people put me up there as far as saying he’s one of the best ever. And I’ve only been wrestling for 11 and a half years. I think that Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, guys who have put 30 years into it deserve it. Me getting that praise after only 11 years — it’s not fair.”
Angle left the WWE in 2006, but his impact is still seen in the current generation of superstars. And even though some say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Angle doesn’t appreciate his moves and style being replicated.
“When Jack Swagger copies my ankle lock and Randy Orton does my Angle Slam, it’s disrespectful,” Angle said. “I didn’t come up with the Ankle Lock, Ken Shamrock came up with the Ankle Lock but I waited until he retired to do the Ankle Lock. That company has no respect for me.”
Despite his dislike for WWE talent using his moves, Angle is thankful that he has been able to parlay WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s vision for him into a successful career in both the WWE and with Dixie Carter’s TNA.
“I love Vince McMahon. He came up with the Kurt Angle character,” Angle said. “He ran with it and then I was able to run with it. I thank him for the opportunity he gave me. Vince McMahon was one of my best friends, period. Now I’m loyal to Dixie Carter.”
In addition to training, Angle has a full TNA schedule ahead of him over the next month. In February, he will head to the USOC facilities to showcase his talent for Team USA’s coach Zeke Jones. Angle is excited about the road ahead despite its hectic nature.
“I put everything I could into this. My true love is with amateur wrestling, that’s where I was born. I’ve always wanted to wrestle,” Angle said.
There is one downside to all of the training for Angle, though.
“I wrestled for 22 years and I never got cauliflower ear … I’m pissed,” Angle said.