It’s well known that Kurt Angle won a gold medal at the Olympics with a “broken freakin’ neck,” and he recently appeared at the Steel City Comic Con to discuss his participation in the 1996 Olympic trials and then going on to win a gold medal in the Summer Olympics that same year.
You can check out some highlights from the Comic Con panel below:
On his broken neck during the Olympics: “My neck was in so much pain, and my arms went completely numb, and I barely won the semifinals and I went on to the finals later on that day… And they’re like ‘No, you’ll wrestle because you won’t have to go in that mini tournament, so if there’s something wrong with your neck, you might as well just try to wrestle tonight.’”
On being able to continue after being prescribed Novocain and rest: “It worked! I won the Olympic trials and won the Olympic Gold Medal with a broken freakin’ neck.”