Angle attended Mt. Lebanon High School, where he won varsity letters in football and wrestling, and was an All-State linebacker. Angle went undefeated on the freshman wrestling team at Mt. Lebanon High and qualified for the state wrestling tournament as a junior, and was the 1987 Pennsylvania State Wrestling Champion as a senior. Upon graduating from high school, Angle attended the Clarion University of Pennsylvania, where he continued to wrestle at an amateur level. He was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I champion in 1990 and 1992, national runner-up in 1991, and a 3-time NCAA Division I All-American. In addition, Angle was the 1987 USA Junior Freestyle champion, a 2-time USA Senior Freestyle champion and the 1988 USA International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles Junior World Freestyle champion. In the course of his amateur career, Angle faced several future mixed martial artists, defeating Sylvester Terkay, Mark Coleman and Mark Kerr. Upon graduating from college, Angle continued to wrestle. In 1995, he won a gold medal at the World Championships in Atlanta, Georgia. Following this victory, Angle began training for the 1996 Summer Olympics under Dave Schultz at the Pennsylvanian Foxcatcher Club. In January 1996, not long after Angle had begun training at the club, Schultz was murdered. While taking part in the 1996 Olympic Trials, Angle suffered a severe neck injury, fracturing two of his cervical vertebrae, herniating two discs and pulling four muscles. Angle won the trials nonetheless, then spent the subsequent five months resting and rehabilitating. By the time of the Olympics, Angle was able to compete, albeit with several pain-reducing injections in his neck. The injury led to Angle's future claim of having won his Olympic gold medal "with a broken freakin' neck." In October 2006, Angle stated that he temporarily became addicted to the analgesic Vicodin after breaking his neck.Olympic medal record Men's freestyle wrestling Gold 1996 Atlanta 100 kg Angle won his gold medal in the heavyweight (90-100 kg; 198-220 lb) weight class by defeating the Iranian Abbas Jadidi by officials' decision after the competitors wrestled to an eight minute, one-one draw. The bout saw Jadidi earn a point after two minutes and 46 seconds by turning Angle, with Angle earning a point of his own with a takedown after three minutes and 11 seconds. The officials' decision was protested by Jadidi. Shortly after his victory, Angle turned down a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In the same year, he became a marketing representative for Protos Foods, the manufacturers of OSTRIM, an ostrich meat based foodstuff