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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kerri Strug Vaults Into The Limelight

She was always the understudy to America’s sweetheart.

Kerri Strug trained in the shadow of each of them - Kim Zmeskal, Shannon Miller, most recently Dominique Moceanu. Now the shadow has been cast by Strug after a dramatic - almost melodramatic - performance Tuesday night at the 1996 Olympic Games.

And nailing down the gold medal for the United States in women’s team gymnastics under the duress of a severe injury was the kind of achievement that her coach, Bela Karolyi, never imagined.

“It is something I had not seen from Kerri very often,” he said, “but something that has come with age - a toughness, a determination.”

America’s newest gymnastics household name stands 4-foot-9 and weighs 80 pounds and will take a competitive step backward this fall: She’s enrolling at UCLA and will compete on the collegiate level.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do ever since I started in gymnastics,” said Strug, who is from Tucson, Ariz. “My first coach was the coach at the University of Arizona and education has always come first in our house.”

But gymnastics was never far behind.

Strug became a Karolyi protege early on and made the 1992 Olympic team at the age of 14. But failing to make the finals in all-around was a profound disappointment. After that, she changed gyms and had to sit out the 1993 season because of a ripped stomach muscle. Eventually, she returned to Karolyi’s tutelage.

And when she won the American Cup earlier this year in Fort Worth, Karolyi sensed “a different Kerri, someone who could do it on her own, who wouldn’t settle for a second or third.” In the Olympic compulsory, she was strategically placed to lead off in two events and finish the other two - and, of course, was the final U.S. gymnast up in the deciding vault competition in Tuesday’s optionals.

The question is, should she have been allowed to take her second attempt after injuring herself on the first?

“That’s a once-in-a-lifetime situation,” said Karolyi. “It is the greatest sense of responsibility, with the gold medal for your team on the line. I would not be the one to tell her not to do it.”

Said Strug, “I’ve been in so much pain before, one last vault, I can deal with it, I guess. I at least had to try. It would have been hard on me to know I didn’t at least try.” , DataTimes