10 Wrestlers Who Competed In The Olympics

7. Bad News Brown - Montreal 1976

Bad News Brown Olympics
WWE.com

Bad News Brown was one tough chap. With a character somewhat ahead of his time, Brown is rumoured to have challenged the great Andre the Giant to a fight, a battle that even the legendary Frenchman turned down. If Andre the Giant doesn't want to fight you, you've gotta be pretty damn tough.

Despite taking it up at the relatively late age of 22, Bad News Brown (real name Allen Coage) was a widely lauded judoka, advancing to black belt status in just two and a half years. After an injury forced him to miss the 1972 Olympic Games, Coage won the bronze medal in Judo in the 1976 version, becoming the first African American to win a solo medal in a sport outside of boxing or track and field.

Coage retired from judo not long after and began training as a professional wrestling, with none other than Antonio Inoki teaching him the ropes. He also worked as a bodyguard for Aretha Franklin, a fact which tickles me no end.

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.