By Jim Litke

updated 1:57 p.m. ET Aug. 30, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - Remember that vintage George Steinbrenner line from a few years ago, the one he offered as the U.S. Olympic Committee debated whether to join the push for more pros in the games?

“Nobody,” the Yankees boss said, wearing his other hat as a USOC member at the time, “wants to see Hulk Hogan wrestling for our team.”

Well, the truth is USA Wrestling could use someone like the Hulkster right about now; someone who not only wins all the time, but makes sure everybody knows it. Because Lord knows, this sport needs the publicity.

Into that void Saturday night stepped Cael Sanderson, a jut-jawed Utah guy who capped a brilliant amateur wrestling career by beating South Korean Moon Eui-jae 3-1 to win gold in the 185-pound (84 kg) class.

“At this very moment, it’s hard to believe I’m here,” Sanderson said. “I spent so long thinking about it.”

The strange thing is that Sanderson’s toughest struggle is with the spotlight. He already has the winning part down. He’s done it at every level with such mind-bending dominance that if you didn’t know better you’d think his matches — like Hulk’s — were fixed.

He was a four-time state high school champion at Wasatch High, where his dad, Steve, was the coach, and Sanderson lost only three times. He was even better at Iowa State, winning four straight NCAA titles and finishing 159-0.

The number was so eye-catching that even the low-key Sanderson couldn’t duck all the attention. He turned up on the front of the Wheaties box and inside Sports Illustrated, which rated it as the second-greatest college sporting achievement (behind Jesse Owens’ four world-records in a single day while running track at Ohio State). Another magazine promoted him as one of the “50 sexiest athletes.”

Not surprising, he arrived in Athens the most recognizable member of USA Wrestling. But unlike swimmer Michael Phelps or pitcher Jennie Finch, Sanderson was anything but comfortable with all the face time.

“I don’t want to win so I can get some kind of status,” he said. “I want to win because I want to be the champion. That’s the way I look at it.”

Despite all the winning at every other level, Sanderson still had one mat to rule. He missed the world championships his junior year due to a scheduling conflict, and couldn’t compete as a senior because the U.S. team refused to travel to Iran for the championships the following year. In 2003, Sanderson was beaten by Russian Sazhid Sazhidov and took home a silver.

A rematch for the gold here would have been perfect, but it never came close to happening. Sazhidov was beaten in the semifinals earlier Saturday and Sanderson had to win a best 2-of-3 this summer against Lee Fullhart, who upset him in the U.S. championships in April, just to gain a spot on the U.S. team.

After he beat Fullhart, instead of buying a flashy car, Sanderson earnestly admitted he promised his wife he’d buy furniture for the living room if he won. Reminded of that after he won gold, Sanderson blushed. “I promised my wife many things if I won here.

“Hopefully,” he added, “she’s forgot about them now.”

Sanderson had no idea how he’d pay for those things if she did, but endorsements and appearance fees were clearly not on his mind.

“I’m not too worried about that now,” he said. “I love wrestling, I love the sport. Everything else, I’ll start worrying about later.”

Sanderson couldn’t even say whether he planned to continue wrestling, only that he would spend a lot of time around the house to make up for all the days his sport had taken him away. A quick glance was all it took to get a sense of how long that was. Just above Sanderson’s impossibly square jaw, his face was marked by bruises and nicks. And he has those classic cauliflower wrestler’s ears, puffy and misshapen after years of scar tissue growing to fill in cut after cut.

Most of the other great U.S. freestyle champions went from the medal platform into college coaching. Olympic medalist John Smith, maybe the best American ever, wound up at Oklahoma State and Dan Gable, who was perfect until his final college match, is at Iowa. There, they wrestle for recruits and funding, trying to fend off the pressure that Title IX has brought on so many other topflight men’s programs.

One notable exception is Kurt Angle, who took the gold he won in Atlanta and fled to the WWE. There, he draws the kind of audience every night that USA Wrestling is lucky to get even in an Olympic year.

Rulon Gardner’s win in Greco-Roman wrestling at Sydney brought that kind of buzz to the sport, but here in Athens, he left his shoes on the mat after losing — the traditional retirement gesture. Sanderson might be the only guy who can fill them.

“It would be great if Cael becomes some sort of ambassador,” said Smith, who accompanied three of his wrestlers here. “I hope he continues. I believe he’s only going to get better and better.”

Sanderson still has a lot to learn about drawing attention to himself, but at least he’s off to a promising start. As the national anthem played, he struggled to keep the laurel wreath poised atop his head. Asked about it afterward, Sanderson grinned sheepishly and said:

“I guess the nice gentleman that put it on doesn’t know how big of a head I have.”

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