Landing on My Feet: A Diary of Dreams by Kerri Strug

[cftmoonlight79]

I stop micro-managing how my girls warm-up floor by level 4. We practice the warm-up procedure and my only expectation is that they get to everything once. It's a bit rough to start, but after a few meets they get it down.

 

[KristyJ]

I smiled at Kerri's description of Forster not really knowing what he was doing - it had a strong sense of deja vu of his time as National Team Coordinator

Kerri's description did not improve my impression of Forster as a leader, either. "I'm sorry this isn't Karolyi's" does nothing to address a gymnast's concerns. It sounds like he never explained the reasoning behind how and why they did things as they did. I also note that after her time there Kerri did not list Colorado Aerials' gymnasts as serious contenders with others when recounting Olympic Trials, but did include Thompson. This seems to reflect an impression of their training.

 

[RedBirdie]

Kerri's description did not improve my impression of Forster as a leader, either. "I'm sorry this isn't Karolyi's" does nothing to address a gymnast's concerns. It sounds like he never explained the reasoning behind how and why they did things as they did. I also note that after her time there Kerri did not list Colorado Aerials' gymnasts as serious contenders with others when recounting Olympic Trials, but did include Thompson. This seems to reflect an impression of their training.

I wonder if that was just a familiarity thing. Kerri would have known Jennie for years at that point. They were at Karolyis and then Dynamo together, and Jennie had be hyped as the next big thing for years. Kerri was at CO Aerials for less than a year and their athletes certainly didn't have the Karolyi and Nunno hype machines behind them (no matter how much Tom tried to be The Next Bela or The Next Steve).

FWIW, I wouldn't have picked Jennie Thompson as a more likely contender than Kulikowski or even Powell going into Trials. They were all in that second tier together.

 

[KristyJ]

I wonder if that was just a familiarity thing. Kerri would have known Jennie for years at that point. They were at Karolyis and then Dynamo together, and Jennie had be hyped as the next big thing for years. Kerri was at CO Aerials for less than a year and their athletes certainly didn't have the Karolyi and Nunno hype machines behind them (no matter how much Tom tried to be The Next Bela or The Next Steve).

FWIW, I wouldn't have picked Jennie Thompson as a more likely contender than Kulikowski or even Powell going into Trials. They were all in that second tier together.

I agree with you on this-- I thought Kristy Powell had the best chance of all of those who didn't make it, back in 1996, though having recently watched some of the pre-trials meets I will admit Powell did undercook a lot of elements early in 1996.

 

[IratePanda]

I'd nearly forgotten that Boginskaya trained at Karolyi's before Atlanta. Looking back, it was nice to see her so happy and relaxed in '95-'96.

Strug really seemed to have a bond with the Karolyis at that point. I wonder if they really did mellow during their brief retirement, or if they were just trying to be on good behavior. FWIW, they did have some experience training older gymnasts--namely Comaneci before Moscow '80.

 

[QuietColours]

They certainly weren't mellower with Moceanu. Her parents also explicitly told them not to be relaxed with her though, from what I recall.

I've never been able to decide if it was good behavior, being able to respect accomplished athletes more (or athletes they knew to have workhorse tendancies), or having more respect for people who made it clear what the rules were.

 

[Puffin]

FWIW, they did have some experience training older gymnasts--namely Comaneci before Moscow '80.

I guess in 1980 - 18 was considered an "older gymnast"

 

[Big_rock_show]

I know this is beating a dead horse over the years, but there's always that "did Kerri have a choice to do that second vault?" debate that resurfaces every once in awhile.
From reading these summaries, it really doesn't sound like she did. She would have preferred to save her leg for AA. And it sounds like she relied solely on Bela to tell her what to do, what to think, how hard to push.
However, I remember from my (much lower level) competition days that I would have done a second vault in a heartbeat. I remember breaking two toes on beam and then slapping some tape on my foot so I could 'finish the meet', even if my coaches told me not to. It wasn't maybe my best quality as a gymnast, but I was stubborn as heck.