Seeing as it is Strug’s memory, her story, and her actions, her feelings are valid and should not be discredited, but does that mean the circumstances that resulted in the vault were ok? No. Strug ends the retelling by saying, “That vault changed me and changed my life for the better.” Unacceptable by definition is “not satisfactory or allowable” – a definition rooted in outside opinion and influence.Įven Strug’s dad told her he was proud of her, which isn’t necessarily wrong – from his perspective, he just watched his daughter persevere and win Olympic gold – but was there a better way to go about it? It’s not uncommon and certainly not a bad trait to have as an athlete competing at the top level of her sport, but would it have been “unacceptable” to her? Or to those depending on her? Yes, Strug was motivated, determined, and “pushing through” like we all have in our own lives. Anything else would have been unacceptable.”Īnything else would have been unacceptable. I don’t remember the vault itself, but when I landed, I didn’t think I’d done anything special. I remember thinking I was going to trip and fall on my face. “As I started running toward the vault, my ankle felt displaced and unstable. It sounds like an elite athlete repeating the words and the mindset that’s been ingrained in her by those she reveres most. Do it again.” In that moment, all the years of doing one more vault when I was too tired or sick or didn’t want to perform another rep paid off.” It was just a moment of thinking, “You have to do this. It might be disappointing to hear, but there wasn’t. Shrug continues, “I think people want me to say there was a special, magical moment during the vault that came next.
Advice on whether to compete or not? Putting your athlete and their physical well-being first? That’s what a coach should’ve done in that moment, medal or not. Advice on technique? Maybe that’s what she wanted. “After all those years of training and coaching and hard work, that’s all he could say? No advice on technique? Just “You can do it.””Ī grown Strug even admits she was looking for advice from her coach, her mentor, at the moment she needed it the most. An adult who, in hindsight, seems to reflect positively on that day, but if you look closely, there’s a story, a sign of the times, within her words: After all those years of training and coaching and hard work, that’s all he could say? No advice on technique? Just “You can do it.” Looking back, I believe he knew I needed to be on automatic pilot. You can do it.” But I didn’t focus on them. “When I set up to take my second vault, I heard the words Bela was saying to me, the words they spoofed on “Saturday Night Live”: “You can do it. Is this really happening? My legs were already wrapped prior to competing because I’d been dealing with shin splints and ankle pain, but this was different.”
“Then I fell on my first vault, I couldn’t believe it. “I knew something was wrong with my left leg,” Strug told Alyssa Roenigk. Strug herself recounted the life-changing moment for ESPNW in 2016. From the outside looking in, Strug’s decision to vault with a serious injury doesn’t seem like a mental health case, but 1996 was a different time, when society as a whole and especially a Bela Karolyi-type would pressure a vulnerable teenager to “push through.”
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