Kerri Sturg

At the age of 8 Kerri Strug competed in her first gymnastics meet. She worked hard and quickly reached higher and higher levels (Strug). This climb came naturally to Stug who loved gymnastics, and at the age of 12 Kerri decided how much she truly loved the sport. The Olympics no longer seemed like an impossible dream, but Kerri knew she wouldn’t make it without a good coach. That coach was Bela Karolyi, and Kerri couldn’t train with him unless she left Tuscon, Arizona (Strug). In 1991, 13 year old Kerri went to Houston to train; working out 6 to 7 days a week for 8 hours each day. Kerri knew that most gymnasts’ careers are short because they usually peak at the age of 15 or 16. On the last day of Olympic Trials, for the Barcelona Olympics, Kerri was confident that she would make the Olympic team; but during Kerri’s floor exercise she fell. For a while, she was certain she didn’t make the cut, but when all was said and done, she landed the fourth slot on a six person team, becoming the youngest U.S. athlete (Strug). At the Barcelona Olympics the women’s team won bronze and Kerri was pushed out of the All-Around competition. Later Kerri’s coach Karolyi announced he was leaving gymnastics, making the next three years of Kerri’s life difficult. Kerri moved from coach to coach; then at a meet in Europe Kerri tore a stomach muscle taking 6 months for it to heal. During this time Kerri decided to go back home and to finish school. When Kerri began to compete again she took another blow in her gymnastics career. She was on the uneven bars when her grip slipped and she swung backwards off the bar, she pulled her back muscles, taking another 6 months for recovery (Strug). Then on June 30th, 1996 Kerri earned a spot on the 1996 Olympic team.

Some sports look grueling – ice hockey, soccer, basketball, for example. Others, like gymnastics, appear effortless and soaring. But in the first national study of gymnastics injuries, conducted by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, 16 years of data show that there is nothing easy at all about gymnastics; making gymnastics among the most dangerous sports for girls (Park). “Many parents do not typically think of gymnastics as a dangerous sport,” said study senior author Lara McKenzie, PhD, MA, principal investigator in Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “In fact, many parents consider it an activity. Yet gymnastics has the same clinical incidence of catastrophic injuries as ice hockey (Pediatric Gymnastics). McKenzie and her team collected data in a 16-year period (from 1990 to 2005) examining children from ages 6 to 17. Five of every 1,000 children, ages 6-17 – about 27,000 children in all – who participated in some form of gymnastics sought medical care in the ER each year for a gymnastics-related injury (Park). Half of the injuries in 6 to 11 year-olds involved fractures or dislocations of the upper extremities, while lower extremity strains and sprains accounted for just over half of injuries in 12 to 17 year-old athletes (Harding). Older gymnasts are getting injured more often is due to trying new tricks with more difficulty. Yet, the number of injuries fell from 28,700 in 1990 to 21,500 in 2005 (Harding). This can be due to more safety precautions being added to the spot, whether it be more padding for landing or changes to the equipment. There are more things being done to make gymnastics a safer sport. Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, says his organization is hoping to create a USA Gymnastic University, whose goals will be to educate and certify coaches on training and safety practices (Park).

The U.S. gymnastic team had a lead over the Russian team and it all looked like the U.S. had its first gold in the team combined exercises all sewn up. That is until Dominique Moceanu fell down on both her vaults and Strug’s first attempt also ended in a fall (Brown). When Kerri fell after her first attempt at vault she got up and began to limp back to the start. Barely able to walk Strug made her way to the runway ready to go again. She sprinted down the runway hit the vault and stuck the landing before collapsing in pain, securing the gold for the American team. Knowing that her career was over she made the best ending by smiling on the podium with her team, while receiving their well deserved gold medals.

Kerri Strug at the 1996 Atlanta Games