Follow our Olympics coverage in the lead-up to the Paris Games.
One went on when she probably should have stopped. The other stopped when she knew she couldn’t go on. In the 25 years in between, women’s gymnastics has tried to find its balance.
In 1996, 18-year-old Kerri Strug limped to the start of the vault runway in Atlanta, ignored her throbbing left ankle, dashed off on a sprint and vaulted her way into history. With the United States trying to break Russia’s stranglehold and simultaneously win its first gymnastics Olympic team gold medal, Béla Károlyi sent Strug off with words of encouragement spliced with an ominous tone. “You can do it,”
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