Kerri Strug

Kerri Allyson Strug was born on November 19, 1977, in Tucson, Arizona. Unlike many other gymnasts, who are pushed into the sport by their parents from an early age, Strug chose the hard life of a gymnast herself. When she was only a few years old, Strug asked her parents to enroll her in tumbling classes. Strug had attended the meets of her older sister, Lisa, and older brother, Kevin, and decided that she wanted to try it, too. Strug quickly proved that her interest stemmed from more than just a natural desire to emulate her older siblings—she also had natural talent. Strug's parents supported her ambition, and enrolled her in gymnastics classes at the age of four. By the age of six, Strug was taking private lessons from Jim Gault, a gymnastics coach at the University of Arizona.

When she was seven, Strug visited her sister at a gymnastics summer camp in Texas, run by the famous gymnastics coach, Bela Karolyi, who had trained such past gymnastics champions as Nadia Comaneci, and who was then training America's star gymnast, Mary Lou Retton. A member of Karolyi's coaching staff noticed Kerri's back flips and encouraged Strug's parents to enroll her in Karolyi's school full-time. Strug's parents refused, however. They had always stressed the importance of education to their children, and worried that gymnastics would take precedence over Kerri's education.

Strug continued to work hard in school, and even harder in her after-school gymnastics lessons. She also started to compete, entering her first gymnastics competition

Kerri Strug

at the age of eight. She advanced quickly over the next several years, earning top finishes in local and regional events. At the age of twelve, however, Strug decided that she wanted more—she wanted to make it to the Olympics. In order to compete with the best, she knew she needed to train with the best: Karolyi. Strug's parents reluctantly agreed to send her to Karolyi's expensive school full-time, on the condition that she not neglect her education. In January 1991, at the age of thirteen, Strug moved to Houston to begin her new life.