When he won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics, American wrestler Rulon Gardner weighed 286 pounds. A few months ago, he tipped the scales at 474. He knew something had to be done.

Gardner hopes to accomplish his weight-loss goals while competing on the hit NBC reality show "The Biggest Loser." The 11th season of the program began on Tuesday night, with Gardner competing to lose the most weight and earn a $250,000 prize.

[Photos: See the rest of the 'Biggest Loser' Season 11 cast]

At the Sydney Games in 2000, Gardner pulled one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history when he earned a 1-0 victory over Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin in the Greco-Roman super-heavyweight division. Karelin hadn't lost an international match in 13 years and was 59-0 in Olympic competition. He hadn't so much as given up a single point in six years and was the three-time defending gold medalist. Gardner stunned him in overtime of their match, an upset on par with the Miracle on Ice.

Now he's hoping for

Organizers of the Rio Olympics are on the defensive after similarities between the logo for the 2016 Games and a Colorado-based charity foundation were discovered.

The logo, which was released on New Year's Eve at a massive celebration at Copacabana beach, depicts figures embracing in a circular motion. It was soon noticed that the design resembles the logo for The Telluride Foundation, a Colorado charity chaired by Norman Schwarzkopf.

Here's the Rio logo:

And the one for The Telluride Foundation:

Take away the legs and the red dancer from the Telluride logo and you have Rio's. It's undeniably similar. But is it plagiarism?

The director of the Brazilian agency that created the logo says no. Fred Gelli acknowledges that there are similarities between the two, but guaranteed that his design was original. "For some reason, we missed that one," he said.

[Photos: See London's 2012 Olympic venues]

I posed the plagiarism question to Dan Levy, a graphic designer who also hosts a popular

Last week on Fourth-Place Medal, we mentioned that Vancouver Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn would be appearing on the cover of ESPN The Magazine's film issue dressed as Sharon Stone from "Basic Instinct." This weekend, we caught our first glimpse of the cover. As far as re-creations go, this one is about as accurate as can be.

[Photos: Vonn poses for 'Sports Illustrated' swimsuit issue]

Vonn tried her hand at acting earlier this year when she appeared as a desk clerk during the final episode of "Law and Order." The two-time Olympic medalist had lobbied for a role on the program (her favorite) and creator Dick Wolf was happy to oblige.

After a seven-month break from competitive skiing, Vonn returned to the slopes late last month for her 2010-11 season debut in Austria, where she finished a distant 18th in the giant slalom. This weekend she'll appear in her hometown of Vail at the first North American World Cup meet of the season.

The

TooFab, a spin-off of TMZ, is refuting TMZ's report that Michael Phelps is dating socialite/reality star/aspiring jewelery designer Brittny Gastineau and that's he's still with his current girlfriend Miss California USA 2010 Nicole Johnson.

(How many days is it until London?)

If we're going to lilnk Phelps romantically with every person he's photographed with, it's only a matter of time before TMZ reports tgat he's "been seen" with Jared from Subway. Turns out Phelps was one of many athletes to help the formerly-overweight Jared train for the New York City Marathon earlier this month.

Athens silver-medalist and defending NY Marathon champion Meb Keflezighi was also part of the Subway promotion.

Already this year, Lindsey Vonn has been a Sports Illustrated cover girl, become America's Olympic sweetheart after winning Olympic gold and made a cameo on the longest running drama in television history. So what better way to end the greatest year of her life than dressing up like a sex-crazed, homicidal crime writer from an 18-year old movie on the cover of a magazine?

Vonn will appear on the cover of the upcoming issue of ESPN The Magazine dressed like Sharon Stone's character, Catherine Trammel, from the film "Basic Instinct." It's part of the mag's film issue, which hits newsstands on Friday.

You can watch a behind-the-scenes video of Vonn's transformation to a 1990s-era Sharon Stone here. The resemblence is uncanny, but there's one major difference between Stone in the film and Vonn in the photo shoot: Vonn isn't holding a cigarette. (What, you thought I was talking about something else?)

Two years ago, Michael Phelps made national headlines for bringing home his new cocktail waitress-girlfriend on Thanksgiving. This year, the 14-time gold medalist may have a new lady friend to bring home to Mom.

People confirms that Phelps has begun dating Brittny Gastineau, a reality-television personality whose claim to fame is that she's the daughter of former NFL player Mark Gastineau. TMZ also reports that the two are dating and has video of them together in Los Angeles. Her Wikipedia page boasts that she's a model and socialite as well. She also designs jewelry and probably wants to be an actress. Versatility. Just like Phelps in the pool.

Gastineau was a star of the short-lived reality series "Gastineau Girls" which followed her and her mother trying to live a life of luxury but as "normal people." Though she was touted as the daughter of a former NFL star, in reality, Brittny hadn't seen her father in 17 years.

Caster Semenya, the 19-year old runner who was at the center of a worldwide gender controversy, can't find a sponsor. So the defending 800-meter world champion is turning to Facebook to help raise money for her track career.

The negative publicity brought upon by last year's gender tests have scared away sponsors, Semenya's manager Tshepo Seema says. After she was cleared to run as a female in July, it's gotten even worse. Seema said that companies have told him "we can't touch her."

To counter this, Semenya and her team have started grassroots efforts to raise funds. First, there was a text message campaign where supporters could pledge 70 cents (set up in the same way as the Red Cross campaign to assist Haiti after the devastating earthquake). Now, a group started on Facebook plans to sell t-shirts and hold car washes for Semenya's benefit.

The only problem is, they don't have enough money to pay for the cost of printing the t-shirts. And, even worse, despite the fact that this

Tommie Smith, the Olympic gold medalist who along with teammate John Carlos sent a shockwave through the 1968 Mexico City Olympics by giving a black-power signal during the medal ceremony, is now selling the gold medal he won for winning the 200-meter run.

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Smith's gold medal and cherry-red Puma running shoes are on the auction block with M.I.T. Memorabilia. The starting bid is $250,000; the auction will close Nov. 4. Smith and his family are not commenting on the sale, but an M.I.T. representative said:

"Of course the medal is important to him, but the memory of winning the race is far more important," [Gary] Zimet said of Smith's then-world-record time of 19.83 seconds. "He is doing it for the money, but not because he is desperate. If someone is willing to pay his price, he'll sell."

The famous black glove that Smith donned when giving the black-power salute was not included in the auction because it is missing. Smith said he lost it over