![]() team’s dreams of winning a gold medal by landing her second vault on an ankle injured during the prior run.Īmerica had been the underdog facing the favored Soviet Union team, and Strug recalled for the crowd at KSU the moments leading up to that final vault when her team’s sudden unraveling near the end of the competition had threatened its victory in the Games. Strug became a sensation following the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, when the then-18-year-old saved the U.S. That smile on my face mirrored the unbridled euphoria I felt from chasing rainbows and realizing there truly is gold at the end of the journey,” Strug said. “On the (Olympic medal) podium, more than the pain and more than the sacrifice, what I thought about was how much joy and self-satisfaction I felt. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences (RCHSS). Strug spoke as part of the Paul and Beverly Radow Lecture Series on Jewish Life at its first gold medal in team gymnastics with an outstanding vault on an injured ankle, Kerri Strug on Wednesday shared with an audience at Kennesaw State University the advice that pushed her to that moment: Commit totally and without fear to what you believe in. Twenty-five years after she secured the U.S. Despite the win, I'm betting Strug would not recommend it.Olympic gymnastics legend Kerri Strug shares lessons in lecture at Kennesaw State Wish them luck, and may no one need to compete while injured. ![]() ![]() This year, there's a good chance for the American gymnasts. "To this day, I remember the National Anthem playing and being up there with my teammates thinking to myself, 'This is what you've always wanted,'" Strugg said. The trip to the hospital was postponed just long enough for her to receive her medal with her teammates. She turned to face the judges, and then fell on her knees, the pain too great. She quickly raised her injured ankle behind her. She flipped into the air, twisted, and landed nearly perfectly - except that she landed almost perfectly on both feet. It's the Olympics." She walked to the starting line, and Coach Károlyi told her, "You can do it, you can do it!" It worked. "Whatever is in my ankle is going to go away, it has to. But she tried to convince herself she was OK. "When I got up, my left ankle felt a little strange," Strug said. That meant it was up to Strug - someone for whom there were far fewer expectations entering the competition. Her score was so low that the lead of the American team was then in doubt. But then it was time for the vault, and Dominique Moceanu, one of the top gymnasts that year, fell not once but twice - and the falls were pretty severe. ![]() Evidently, in gymnastics, 0.897 is a huge number to lead by. ![]() Team USA was nearing the end of the gymnastics competition, and they were way ahead of second-place Russia. Rick Weinberg of ESPN explained what led up to her big moment. lead had evaporated, and it all came down to Olympian Kerri Strug, who competed with a broken ankle. Back at the 1996 Atlanta Games, that's what happened. Sometimes, the scores are so close that it can come down to just one athlete. Gymnastics heavyweights like the United States and Russia have often vied for supremacy at the games. The team's scores are aggregated, and the competing countries' teams are scored against one another. Even though American gymnasts at the Olympics may bring home the gold on the uneven bars, rings, or beam, gymnastics is not solely an individual sport. ![]()
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