by Rick McCharles
I’ve always admired Kerri Strug, “hero” of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
But not for landing her second vault on an injured ankle in the Team Final. That was a mistake. Kerri was a victim of bad coaching.
Actually, I admire Kerri for persisting to compete in two Olympics. For coming back from injury. For moving club-to-club after Bela Karoli retired in order to continue her career.
I admire the fact that Kerri persisted despite often being in the shadow of higher profile American team mates.
I admired her coverage of the 2004 Games as Yahoo! Sports’ Olympic gymnastics analyst. She was “disappointed in the actions of Paul Hamm” (my opinion too) while many other American analysts rushed to defend Hamm.
But the oft repeated myth that Kerri won the gold medal for the USA over Russia in the 1996 Olympics with the “famous” 2nd vault grates. Anyone who does even 5 minutes of research knows that the gold was clinched on her first vault.
… “We had no idea what the score was,” said co-head coach Mary Lee Tracy. ..
Click PLAY or watch Kerri in the team vault final on YouTube.
Why did the USA not have people assigned to track team scores?
I was outraged at the time. And it still irks 3 Olympiads later.
On the other hand, Bela or Mary Lee would have had to physically restrain Kerri from taking that second vault. It would have been a gutsy, decisive coaching move.
I would respect Bela a lot more if he had stopped her. (Certainly it was Bela’s call.)
I would respect the media more if they would report Kerri’s story accurately. How many times are we going to hear it misrepresented leading up to Beijing?
The Official Web Site of Gymnast Kerri Strug
Kerri’s dismount on an injured ankle reminds old-timers of Shun Fujimoto — the World’s Toughtest Gymnast — who actually did win the team gold for Japan at the 1976 Olympics. Landing his rings dismount on a broken patella.
Many years after, Fujimoto admitted that doing that rings routine was a mistake. He was sorry he had kept the injury hidden from coaches who he felt, quite correctly, would have scratched him from the apparatus.
Perhaps I’m being too critical of Bela. Leave a comment below if you have anything to add.
10 comments ↓
A Couple of points…
1) I don’t necessarily think all of it was bad coaching. I think it’s part of an athlete’s mindset in that, yah they may be hurt but I’ve gotta put the pain behind me and compete. I think part of that is a coaching issue but also it’s an athletic mindset in general and it’s not just in Humans. You see it in racehorses too.. Look at Ruffian the great filly racehorse. She wanted to run so badly that she injured her self even more by running because thats what she wanted to do.
2)I don’t agree with you on Paul Hamn’s actions. I think the judges screwed up on that one.
3)What about the guy in Stuttgart(this year’s worlds) that was competing on an injured knee?
Injured athletes often do not feel the pain.
But the coach has the responsibility to take them out of competition when injured. Especially since the second vault was not necessary.
Regarding Hamm:
“I wish Paul had unofficially, voluntarily handed over the gold medal to Yang Tae Young despite the final ruling of the Court. That would have been the stand-up thing to do. Hamm would be a hero instead of an Olympic folly.”
Again I don’t agree with Hamn. I don’t think he should have. I think what the judges did was wrong and I think he was the olympic champion and deserved the medal
Re: Hamm
Athletes need to know their place and Paul Hamm knew his. Athletes are the competitors not the judges, referees, nor do they represent the governing body.
Paul Hamm was not and is not the arbitrator of who was the 2004 Olympic AA winner. The judges and Bruno Grandi and FIG make that decision. And they did. It was the whining and lying (see the CAS decision) Koreans that made an issue of it. In their opening statement in Luasanne they admitted they had made an error in when they first protested.
Paul Hamm was not supposed to do anything and he did not do anything. Anything he might have done would have been in conflict with the decision of the governing bodies, including IOC President Jacques Rogge.
Any errors made by judges are simple a part of the “game.” Just as in any football or basketball game many errors are made. Just listen to the commentators or watch the instant reply – yet the games go on. And when the game is over the winning team doesn’t re-decide the game. And the losing team can’t say, “hey wait. We wanted to throw the review flag.” The time is over.
How many other judging errors were made in that AA competition. Let’s see. Thirty-six competitor each doing six routines with five judges each. That represents 1080 scores. Are we to believe that Yang Tae Young’s p-bar routine was the only one that had an error.
Why not go back and review each of the 216 routines and rescore the entire event? Why not do it in all sports. If that is what you want, then you do not understand sports.
Hamm’s victory was soiled, but only by the Koreans (long known for their protests – boxing, skating, gymnastics). Hamm was vindicated by the highest court in the world, and by Rogge and by Grandi. Get over it.
The Koreans didn’t protest in time. BAD COACHING DECSION. Just like Bela and Keri, but it doesn’t turn Yang into the winner.
The second coming of Paul Hamm this year gives us all a chance to revisit the 2004 result.
I think it would be awesome if Paul won the Olympics … legitimately.
Coach Rick,
You don’t get it. Paul Hamm did win the Olympics legitimately.
Judging errors (judges are human beings) are part of the game.
By your analysis, in every sporting event the winner is illegitimate, as I can not imagine any sporting event where there isn’t some error.
Furthermore, in gymnastics each athlete and his coach have the opportunity to protest a score. The Koreans did not do so in the proper timeframe. That doesn’t make Hamm’s victory illegitimate (nor does it make Kim Dae Eun silver medal illegitimate.
And why is it that the Koreans haven’t switched medals between themselves? They know full-well the results are legitimate. You should consider stopping with the slams against Paul Hamm and direct your efforts where the problems exist – FIG and its “leader” Bruno Grandi.
I was in Athens and I found the Horizontal Bar Event Finals the worst part of The Games when the crowd booed (while Hamm waited to go) until Adrian Stoika, President of the FIG’s Men’s Technical Committee, made the judges change Nemov’s score.
It was a pathetic moment for men’s gymnastics, gymnastics and The Olympic Games.
Paul Hamm IS the legitimate AA winner from 2004, and all your protestations won’t change it.
completely Agree Sandy… Although, I kind of wish the judges could have instant reply because of the deductions in the PB routine of the Korean… there should have been more deductions…
Hindsight is always no matter how you look at it, 20/20
I don’t think I’ve heard the case for Paul Hamm ever better spoken, Sandy.
Thanks.
I disagree still, though you have swayed me slightly. Especially the point that the Koreans did not switch medals.
I’ll wait on the counterpoints and revisit the Hamm issue once he competes at American Cup. I’ll put up a dedicated post on the Olympic Champion *** issue. And people can weigh in.
[...] related – media perpetuates the myth of Kerri Strug [...]
It’s interesting that Chellsie Memmel has twice now “pulled a strug.” In 2006 she tore her shoulder on bars midway through the team finals and continued to compete, saying she didn’t realize how severely she’d been injured and that neither alternates were warmed up. After the meet was over Memmel still wanted to compete all around but couldn’t even raise her arm up high enough to put her hair in a ponytail. And then in 2008 she broke her foot in training leading up to the olympics but downplayed it to a sprain so she could compete bars and help team USA. It’s kind of sad she has not gotten the same recognition Strug has for her sacrifices, maybe because in both meets the US came away with the silver or because in both cases Memmel downplayed how severe her injuries were and has not really sough the limelight the way Strug has.
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