What happened to Kerri Strug? All about the gymnastics legend and her 1996 Olympics injury

KERRI Strug is a legend in the gymnastics world who brought home a gold medal for the US team – despite picking up a severe injury.

But who is the retired American gymnast legend and what happened to her after the 1996 Olympic Games?

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Who is Kerri Strug?

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Kerri Strug was born in 1977 and is a retired gymnast who represented the US in the Olympics in the 90s.

The Arizona-born legend was a member of the Magnificent Seven – the all-round women’s gymnastics team from 1996.

She began gymnastics training at only three years old after watching her sister Lisa compete in various competitions.

In 1992 she was the youngest member of the entire US Olympic team – representing her country at just 14 and winning bronze.

She is a five-time World Championships team member and has earned over thirty medals in international competitions.

After the 1996 Olympics, Kerri reached legend status and appeared on numerous TV shows like Beverly Hills 90210, Saturday Night Live , Dateline , and more.

The gymnast went to Stanford University where she was a Kappa Alpha Theta member and did a degree in communications.

She then went on to do an MA at Stanford in sociology.

What happened to Kerri Strug at the 1996 Olympics?

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In the final rotation where the US were on vault, the first four gymnasts landed their vaults – but not clean enough to beat other countries for gold.

Kerri’s teammate Dominique Moceanu also fell twice, granting her a poor score and consequently bringing the team average down.

Kerri was the last to vault for the US.

But on her first attempt, she sadly under-rotated causing her to fall and injure her ankle.

Despite this, she was still awarded 9.162 points.

In spite of her injury, the team asked her to go up one more time to repeat her vault.

The legend limped to the end of the runway to make a second attempt as all eyes were on her.

She landed the vault incredibly on both feet before hopping onto her uninjured foot and saluting to the judges.

Soon after, she instantly collapsed to her knees in immense pain and required urgent assistance.

The vault received an incredible score of 9.712 – gaining the US team a gold medal.

The rest of the Magnificent Seven refused to walk out to the medal ceremony without Kerri, so their coach Béla Károlyi carried her to the podium.

What was Kerri Strug’s injury?

Kerri severely injured her ankle on the vault, with many critics saying she shouldn’t have been asked to repeat it by her coach or team.

She reportedly got treated for a third-degree lateral sprain on her left ankle.

Kerri tragically struggled to recover from her injury and retired from gymnastics.

Where is Kerri Strug now?

Kerri has had various careers since gymnastics, from a role as a primary school teacher to taking part in Disney ‘s World on Ice, Paris 2024 Olympics reports.

She also served as a spokesperson for the Special Olympics and the Children’s Miracle Network.

Kerri has written two books and lives in Washington D.C. with her lawyer husband Robert Fischer, who she married in 2010, and their two children Tyler and Alayna.

Simone Biles has been compared to Kerri Strug after suffering a potentially career-altering ankle and foot injury at the Paris Olympic Games.

The gymnast reportedly injured her calf while warming up for the qualification round on July 28 2024.

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