She brought home a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics.
Now, Kerri Strug is coming to Alabama. She is featured speaker at the September 5 Kickoff Luncheon of the United Way of Baldwin County.
Strug is a retired American gymnast from Tucson, Ariz. She was a member of the Magnificent Seven, the victorious all-around women's gymnastics team that represented the United States at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She performed the final vault that clinched the gold medal for the U.S. team despite having injured her ankle.
Kerri Strug went home from the Atlanta Olympics as a national hero for her last-minute salvaging of the gold medal — after just having injured her ankle.
Strug stands four feet eight inches, small even for women gymnasts. She is now age 46. She graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s in social psychology.
Since winning for the USA on the world stage, Strug has appeared in commercials, met with then-President Bill Clinton in the White House and worked for the White House and Department of Justice.
She now has a son and a daughter and lives in Tucson with her husband.
She was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
The event is on Thursday, September 5, at the Daphne Civic Center. Doors open at 11 a.m., lunch is at 11:30 a.m. and the program starts at noon.
Ticket information can be found here.
United Way of Baldwin County was established in 1968. It supports 30 nonprofits.
Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler’s beat is the colorful and positive about Alabama. He writes about Alabama people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
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