The Summer Olympics: Alexander Karelin

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As a national hero, Karelin enjoys advantages unknown to other athletes. "There's not another wrestler in the world who travels with a helicopter and a massager and two or three doctors and coaches," declares Ghaffari, who says he and Karelin regard each other with mutual respect. Small wonder that when Russian President Vladimir Putin's Unity Party needed a boost last year, it picked Karelin to run for a legislative seat. Today the wrestler denies rumors that he wants to be President. "It's a totally different level of responsibility," he says, "and I am not ready for it." Just running for parliament was hard enough. "For the first two weeks," he recalls, "I regarded it as a personal humiliation. People watch you too closely. They want you to answer their questions, explain things, joke, sing and dance. I felt like a clown."

Karelin and his campaign managers gave one another fits. "They told me to grow hair instead of having my favorite short haircuts. They told me I should not drive sport-utility vehicles--but I don't fit in a regular car. Finally I said, 'Maybe you want me to pierce my ears and nose, paint my cheeks, use lipstick and makeup? Look, the people who vote for me see me every day as I am. I don't have to pretend to make them like me.'"

Mat rivals hope that the rigors of politics will help wear Karelin down. They note that his matches have got closer of late, with the Russian winning by 1-0 and 2-0 scores. "I truly think he's beatable," says Steve Fraser, national coach of the U.S. Greco-Roman team and a light-heavyweight gold medalist in 1984. Fraser says Rulon Gardner, America's No. 1 super heavyweight, will try to outwork Karelin and exhaust him on his feet. (Ghaffari is an alternate.)

There's just one problem. "You can't beat him until you score on him," says Hull. "And Karelin's still not allowing anyone to score. Guys just can't get any position to move him." That's because, of all the Olympians in Sydney this month, Karelin is the closest to being both an immovable object and an irresistible force.

--With reporting by Victor Gusev/Moscow