10 Wrestlers Who Competed In The Olympics

9. Ken Patera - Munich 1972

Bad News Brown Olympics
WWE.com

Saito was also arrested in 1984 for allegedly hurling a rock at a McDonalds in Wisconsin. The other wrestler involved in that incident also happens to be the next Olympian on our list, none other than former Intercontinental Champion Ken Patera.

Before becoming one of the most hated heels of the 1970s, Patera was an impressive athlete outside of the squared circle. After almost qualifying for the 1968 Olympics in shot-put, Ken turned his focus to weightlifting and experienced a whole lot more success.

Patera qualified for the 1972 Summer Games in Munich amid much fanfare, and was considered one of the top competitors on show. Despite being expected to bring home a medal or two, Patera surprisingly failed to finish on the podium in any event. Even weightlifter extraordinaire Vasiliy Alexeev was shocked, the Russian reported as saying that Patera was stronger than him.

Patera also competed in the World's Strongest Man competition, finishing third in 1977.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.