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,” he told her. “You better do it.”
That is how USA Gymnastics operated, the sequins and smiles masking a sport steeped in intimidation and abuse. The Larry Nassar investigation revealed gymnastics’ sinister side and prompted an uncomfortable but necessary reconciliation sportwide. Hundreds of victims came forward, forcing the ouster of coaches and administrators, the development of SafeSport and an overhaul in how the governing body conducted business. The wounds will take a long time to heal, if they ever do, and trust even longer to regain.
The Paris Games are being billed as a rebirth for gymnastics, the culmination of…
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