BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 13 : Baumgartner Heeds a Precious Plea : Wrestling: U.S. super-heavyweight draws inspiration from son, beats Canada’s Thue, 8-0, for gold.

In the end, the biggest words came from one of the smallest people.

Bruce Baumgartner’s 2-year-old son, Bryan.

“We called him on his birthday (July 24),” said Baumgartner, the United States’ freestyle wrestling team’s super-heavyweight. “I missed it because I was here. My wife had coached him to say, ‘Win the gold, Daddy.’ That really motivated me. It was really difficult being away from him for two weeks.”

An inspired Baumgartner followed his son’s instructions to the letter Thursday night, beating Canada’s Jeff Thue, 8-0, to win the gold medal in the 286-pound classification and become the first American wrestler to win three Olympic medals.

Baumgartner, 31, from Cambridge Springs, Pa., was all over Thue. Baumgartner scored a single-leg takedown in the first 11 seconds, then used two leg laces to push the margin to 4-0 with only 20 seconds elapsed. And that, for all practical purposes, was the end of the match.

For Baumgartner, the victory was vindication. A year ago, in the World Championships, he bombed, finishing seventh, his worst showing in the last decade.

But instead of contemplating retirement, Baumgartner ignored the critics who said he had grown too old.

He watched videotapes and realized that he was lacking movement. Instead of attacking, he was letting himself be attacked, he said.

Then he adjusted, regained his form and, finally spurred on by the encouragement of his son, was once again a winner.

Maybe that’s why of all his medals--the gold from the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and the silver from 1988 in Seoul--this might have been the sweetest.

He bear-hugged his wife down the aisle and onto the floor when he went to collect his gold medal.

“I don’t think I wrestled poorly in last year’s World Championships, I just didn’t wrestle good,” he said.

“I wrestled a much more aggressive style this year. Each medal has been nice in its own way, but this one will be very special because not too many people really gave me the chance to be sitting here with this medal.”

Along the way, Baumgartner had to defeat David Gobedjichvili of the Commonwealth of Independent States, who had defeated him for the 1988 gold medal, and defending world champion Andreas Schroder of Germany.

Baumgartner beat Gobedjichvili, 3-0, and Schroder, 7-0. He outscored his opponents, 35-1.

“Bruce is a very powerful guy, fast, and he has been at this for a long time,” Thue said. “Once he got that early jump on me, the momentum kept building.”

The momentum also keeps building for the U.S. wrestling team. Baumgartner was the first American to win gold here, but the Americans also picked up a second silver, by Kenny Monday at 163 pounds. Monday, of Stillwater, Okla., the 1988 gold medalist, was beaten by Park Jang Soon of South Korea in the title match, 1-0. Zeke Jones won a silver for the United States on Wednesday at 114.5 pounds.

Park, who stayed on the defensive the entire match, took Monday down with 15 seconds remaining, countering a takedown attempt. Monday had defeated Park in four previous matches.

“I got a little overzealous,” said Monday, who didn’t become aggressive until midway through the match. “I was trying to make something happen and he took me down.”

Douglas said he was extremely happy for Monday and that it was a miracle he participated at all. Only eight days ago, Monday suffered a dislocation of his left elbow.

Americans John Smith, at 136.5, and Kevin Jackson, at 180.5, can move into gold-medal bouts tonight with victories this morning.

Wrestling Medalists

* 105.5 POUNDS

GOLD: Kim Il (North Korea)

SILVER: Kim Jong Shin (South Korea)

BRONZE: Vougar Oroudjov (CIS)

* 163 POUNDS

GOLD: Park Jang Soon (South Korea)

SILVER: Kenny Monday (United States)

BRONZE: Amir Reza Khadem Azghadi (Iran)

* 286 POUNDS

GOLD: Bruce Baumgartner (United States)

SILVER: Jeff Thue (Canada)

BRONZE: David Gobedjichvili (CIS)