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6 unusual facts about Kerri Strug


Dominique Moceanu

However, she faltered in the last rotation of team finals, falling on both vaults, a situation which directly resulted in the U.S. chance of a gold medal resting solely on teammate Kerri Strug's final vault.

Kerri Strug

Shortly after her feat, Strug participated in the Ice Capades and Disney's World On Ice, then announced her retirement and enrolled in UCLA where she was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

In 2008, she appeared in a television commercial for the Zaxby's restaurant chain.

ESPN's "This is SportsCenter" ad campaign poked good-natured fun at her injury with two ads featuring various ESPN workers carrying her around.

Actor Chris Kattan notably parodied her adolescent-sounding voice and appearance on Saturday Night Live (in a segment in which she appeared alongside him).

Vanessa Atler

In 1995, she gained attention by placing third in the all-around, behind Olympian Kerri Strug and Heather Brink, at the U.S. Olympic Festival and winning the silver medal in the all-around at that year's U.S. National Championships.


Béla Károlyi

Among the gymnasts Béla and Márta Károlyi have trained are Nadia Comăneci, Svetlana Boginskaya, Mary Lou Retton, Betty Okino, Teodora Ungureanu, Kim Zmeskal, Kristie Phillips, Dominique Moceanu, and Kerri Strug, whom he is famous for carrying to the podium after she injured her ankle on the gold medal-winning vault in the team competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

Debi Thomas

She was also selected by President George W. Bush to be part of the U.S. Delegation for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin Italy along with other former Olympians: Dorothy Hamill, Eric Heiden, Kerri Strug, and Herschel Walker.


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