Kurt Angle won the 1996 Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling before joining WWE.
Angle won the 100-kilogram freestyle wrestling division at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He defeated Iran’s Abbas Jadidi in the final, with the match decided by referee decision after the bout ended tied.
He later entered professional wrestling and signed with the World Wrestling Federation in 1998. Angle made his televised WWF debut in 1999 and became known for incorporating his legitimate amateur wrestling credentials into his character and storylines.
The achievement is sometimes confused with an Olympic silver medal or with his professional wrestling championships. Angle’s Olympic medal was earned in freestyle wrestling, while his WWE accomplishments came later in scripted professional wrestling.