A petite 14 year-old girl with big brown eyes gazes out over the mountains of an intriguing purple Arizona horizon at sunset. Glancing down at an Olympic Bronze Medal, she sighs and says to herself,
"Only one-tenth of a point,"
Referring to the recent Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. She had missed her chance to compete in the All-Around Competition by .014.
"God, give me the opportunity to prove myself. I want another chance to make my dream come true."
He answered...
Being the youngest of three meant following in footsteps. All three of the Strug children were involved in athletics. Lisa, the oldest, started into gymnastics when she was 8. The little girl watching the sunset had not yet been born.
Following in her footsteps, Kerri began in a "mom and tots" gymnastics class. She then competed in her first meet at age 8. With a driving ambition to achieve, and a God-given ability, the little girl excelled through the levels.
At age 12, with her fundamentals down and her strength peaking, the '92 Olympics brought new focus to her training. And if one wants to be the best then one must be trained by the best. Kerri left Tucson to train with the infamous Bela Karolyi in Houston, Texas in January of 1991.
Bela Karolyi was known for producing champions. Among these were Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, and Kim Zmeskal.
Kerri's daily work-outs in preparation for Barcelona were fierce. She trained 8 hours a day for at least 6 days a week. Her diet consisted of only healthy foods, and she basically lived on her own. An aunt and uncle were the closest thing to family in Houston. The Karolyis, their athletes, and a new "host" family were her family now. Her dream was in sight, and kept the fire in her spirit alive through the vigorous lifestyle.
Before she knew it, it was June 13, 1992, the last day of the Olympic Trials in Baltimore. On the final rotation after a strong showing throughout the Trials, Kerri fell on the floor exercise, one of her strongest events. But regardless, God blessed her with the 4th of 6 slots on the Olympic Team. She had become the youngest U.S. athlete to compete in the '92 Games.
The U.S. women won the bronze medal in Barcelona, but the little girl from Tucson was edged out of the All-Around competition by 3-time World Champion Kim Zmeskal. After Barcelona, Karolyi announced retirement.
Kerri was unsure of what to do now, or of what her future held. But trusting in God lead her through. The lingering desire to continue in the sport fueled her fiery spirit. Within the next 3 years, she bounced from coach to coach across the nation to keep her dream alive, with new host families, and new schools.
Of the many competitions, one in Europe put a halt on things. Kerri suffered a torn stomach muscle. She was out for 6 months. She decided to head back to Tucson to heal and focus on her education.
Then in a small meet in California in August of 1994, disaster struck again. Kerri was on the uneven bars and lost grip. She slung herself backwards off the bar, landing with her legs bouncing back over her head. OUCH!
Lying almost motionless on the mat, her tiny voice cried out, "Help me!Please, Lord!"
She severely pulled her back muscles and had a stress fracture in the area of the L-4 and L-5 vertebrae, an injury which could have been career-threatening, but again the will of this young gymnast drove her through six months of rehab and recovery.
Kerri graduated from high school in 1995. The next Olympics were right around the corner--Atlanta 1996. Learning that Bela Karolyi had come out of retirement to coach new prodigy Dominique Moceanu, Kerri saw her opportunity to go back to Bela and took it. No one could coach, nor prepare her the way Bela could. Kerri had always been in the shadows of other girls. This would be no different, she would have to take the "bridesmaid" role again, only now to Moceanu.
In March 1996, Strug let the world know that injuries couldn't contain her, and she was still one of the elite, by capturing the gold medal, her first, at The America's Cup. Then came Boston. The Fleet Center. The 1996 Olympic Trials. With incredible performances on all events, she easily made the team. In fact, Kerri had the highest scores on the vault and floor exercise. She took second to Dawes in the meet.
As she stayed focused in preparation for Atlanta, God continued to bless her. Coaches Marta Karolyi and Mary Lee Tracy gave Kerri the anchor positions on both floor exercise and vault for the Games!
The women's team was unstoppable through team compulsories and 3 events in optionals. And in the final rotation, the U.S. lead the Russians by a narrow margin when the Mag 7 were faced with the vault. Every girl had been hitting every event until now, and the Russians had the enviable floor exercise. The first 4 girls (Phelps, Chow, Miller, and Dawes) didn't score outstanding on their vaults, but were still relatively solid. But the Russians were closing the gap in the race for the gold. Next was child prodigy Dominique Moceanu. If little Dom were to score a 9.743 or better, it would secure the gold for the U.S.. That didn't happen. The young superstar surprisingly fell on both vaults! That meant only one thing--the 1996 Women's Gymnastics Team Gold Medal depended on the bridesmaid. The little girl praying on the mountainside would get her second chance.
The crowd was roaring. All eyes were upon Kerri Strug. One vault scoring a 9.493 or higher will win it. Strug fell on the landing of her first vault, a Yurchenko with one and a half twists.
But on this slip she noticed something was wrong with her left ankle. She heard a crack and a pop. She had one vault left as she limped her way back to the beginning of the runway. Looking at her coach she took a deep breath.
"You can do it," Bela said confidently.
She looked at the vault at the end of the runway. Thoughts raced through her mind:
'My ankle's hurt, the All-Around and Individual competitions are still to come, I missed the All-Around by .014 four years ago, I've suffered numerous injuries working so hard to compete for this All-Around,'
Six girls waited on the sidelines holding hands and praying. This vault is very risky with an injured ankle. This would probably worsen it, and eliminate any chance to compete any further.
Strug made the decision to take the risk and sacrifice further competition for the vault.
"Please, God, help me out here. I'm just asking you once here. I've always tried to be a good person. I've always tried to do what's right. Please, just let me do this vault," she prayed as she stared at the apparatus.
The weight of the entire nation was weighing down upon a tiny injured ankle and a prayer.
The green light went on, the determined gymnast saluted the judges, and began her sprint toward the apparatus that can and will take her out of the All-Around. Floor...spring board...horse...air...
In a dramatic finish, Kerri vaulted a clean Yurchenko with one and a half twists, landing with both feet but immediately lifting her left leg in pain. 
Balancing on her right foot, she turned to salute the judges, and then fell to the floor until the coaches were able to reach her and carry her off the podium. 
Kerri Strug had won the Olympic Gold Medal for the United States! She was carried to the medal stand by Bela as the world's eyes filled with tears. When the officials gave the Magnificent 7 the medals and the national anthem was playing, Kerri got very emotional and told herself,"You've been waiting for this all your life. Thank you, God."
Later, it was learned that she suffered severe ligament and tendon damage that did, in fact, take her out of the All-Around Competition. She is America's hero. Her dream had been fulfilled, but not the way she had intended. The dream became a reality, a reality that will live forever in the sport of gymnastics, in the Olympics, in history, and in the hearts of millions. 
Later when asked how she felt about missing the All-Around she responded with this,
"It would have been ideal if we could have won the gold and I would have been healthy, but God has a reason for everything."
Questions & Comments
are welcome! (reminder: this is NOT Kerri's e-mail address)
1996, "Arizona"Quotes in red are exact quotes taken from actual interview, video, exerpts, etc. All others are relatively fictitious.
If this page offends anyone's religious beliefs, I apologize. Please understand that this is how I see Kerri Strug.
Anything on this page that I did not create are owned and copyrighted by the creators that did.
Thank you for the numerous compliments I've been receiving on this tribute. Feel free to link it to your URL. Thank you and God bless!
--Arizona
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