Kerri Strug

Kerri Strug ( born November 19, 1977) is a former American gymnast. Notoriety she became known for her last appearance at the team decision of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Although they are injured on her first jump, they performed a second to secure their team to Olympic victory. It was the first time that the American team to win gold at the Olympics.

Life

Kerri Strug grew up as the youngest of three siblings in Tucson. For gymnastics she came through her eight years older sister, who took part in competitions. She trained initially in Tucson, joined at the age of thirteen years, but then to Houston to coach Béla Károlyi. In Houston she lived with different host families and trained eight hours a day, six to seven days a week.

Sporting successes

With 14 years Strug was the youngest American woman, who took part in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. With the team, she won a bronze medal, but missed the part in the all-around final scarce. It must never participate in a singles final more than three gymnasts of a nation and Strug was in qualifying 0,014 points worse than the third best American.

Béla Károlyi ended after the Olympics his coaching career. Strug trained in the following years under various other coaches and had to contend with various injuries. In October 1994 Kárloyi decided to re-train and Strug returned in late 1995 back to him. In the meantime, she became Vice World Champion with the American team in 1994 in Dortmund. At the 1995 World Championships she won bronze in the team.

Strug also qualified for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In the team final, the last device of the Americans was the jump. The 18 -year-old stepped up to the last gymnast. Previously, Shannon Miller had to correct the landing of their jump by a little hop and Dominique Moceanu was overthrown during the landing of both vaults. Strug was injured during the landing of her first, jump at the ankle. Despite the messy landing she received for her first jump enough points to secure the Americans to Olympic victory against the Russians. Since only the better jump goes into the rating, Strug would have to jump no more time, but it did nonetheless. After the landing of her second jump, the 1.45 meter small and lightweight 40 kg athlete was about on one leg, before she collapsed and moved on all fours on the mat. At the award ceremony had to be carried by her coach Karolyi .. The television broadcast of the all-around finals had in the U.S. 99 million viewers and NBC used Strugs injury for a dramatic staging of the competition.

Although Strug wanted two days later to participate in the all-around final, but she could because of her severe sprain not even jump a back handspring and had to do without a start. Also Strug could participate in the floor finals due to her injury, neither jumping nor.

After the active time

After the 1996 Olympics ended Strug her career. She did not go with their teammates on an extensive tour of the United States, but began to study at the University of California at Los Angeles. It also published a year after the Olympic Games a children's book and an autobiography and appeared in a gymnastics show with Bart Conner, Nadia Comaneci and Jair Lynch.

After completing her studies at Stanford University with a Master Strug taught for a year in an elementary school in San Jose. Your professional career led her to Washington DC, where she worked at the Presidential Student Correspondence Service worked in the White House before she worked for the Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile works Strug for a prevention program of the U.S. Department of Justice against youth crime.

During her time at college Strug began running and has since participated in several marathons.

In April 2010, Strug married her partner, a lawyer. In March 2012, they became parents of a son.