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Viral post thoughtfully reexamines Kerri Strug's iconic broken ankle vault at 1996 Olympics

"Yesterday I was excited to show my daughters Kerri Strug's famous one-leg vault...But for some reason I wasn't as inspired watching it this time. In fact, I felt a little sick."

Byron Heath/Facebook

Simone Biles withdrawing from the team final in the Tokyo Olympics and subsequently withdrawing from the individual all-around finals after getting a case of the "twisties" has the world talking. She's received overwhelming support as well as overwhelming criticism for the move, with some praising her for recognizing her limits and others blasting her for not persevering through whatever she's dealing with.

Some people pointed to Kerri Strug, who landed on one foot after vaulting with a broken ankle in the 1996 Olympics to help the U.S. win gold, as an example of the kind of sacrifice an athlete should be willing to make for their country.

Byron Heath shared some thoughts about that fateful day in a viral Facebook post that has been shared more than 370,000 times in less than a day.

Heath wrote:

"This realization I had about Simone Biles is gonna make some people mad, but oh well.

Yesterday I was excited to show my daughters Kerri Strug's famous one-leg vault. It was a defining Olympic moment that I watched live as a kid, and my girls watched raptly as Strug fell, and then limped back to leap again.

But for some reason I wasn't as inspired watching it this time. In fact, I felt a little sick. Maybe being a father and teacher has made me soft, but all I could see was how Kerri Strug looked at her coach, Bela Karolyi, with pleading, terrified eyes, while he shouted back 'You can do it!' over and over again.

My daughters didn't cheer when Strug landed her second vault. Instead they frowned in concern as she collapsed in agony and frantic tears.

'Why did she jump again if she was hurt?' one of my girls asked. I made some inane reply about the heart of a champion or Olympic spirit, but in the back of my mind a thought was festering: *She shouldn't have jumped again*

The more the thought echoed, the stronger my realization became. Coach Karolyi should have gotten his visibly injured athlete medical help immediately! Now that I have two young daughters in gymnastics, I expect their safety to be the coach's number one priority. Instead, Bela Karolyi told Strug to vault again. And he got what he wanted; a gold medal that was more important to him than his athlete's health. I'm sure people will say 'Kerri Strug was a competitor--she WANTED to push through the injury.' That's probably true. But since the last Olympics we've also learned these athletes were put into positions where they could be systematically abused both emotionally and physically, all while being inundated with 'win at all costs' messaging. A teenager under those conditions should have been protected, and told 'No medal is worth the risk of permanent injury.' In fact, we now know that Strug's vault wasn't even necessary to clinch the gold; the U.S. already had an insurmountable lead.

Nevertheless, Bela Karolyi told her to vault again according to his own recounting of their conversation:

'I can't feel my leg,' Strug told Karolyi.

'We got to go one more time,' Karolyi said. 'Shake it out.'

'Do I have to do this again?' Strug asked. 'Can you, can you?' Karolyi wanted to know.

'I don't know yet,' said Strug. 'I will do it. I will, I will.'

The injury forced Strug's retirement at 18 years old. Dominique Moceanu, a generational talent, also retired from injuries shortly after. They were top gymnasts literally pushed to the breaking point, and then put out to pasture. Coach Karolyi and Larry Nassar (the serial sexual abuser) continued their long careers, while the athletes were treated as a disposable resource.

Today Simone Biles--the greatest gymnast of all time--chose to step back from the competition, citing concerns for mental and physical health. I've already seen comments and posts about how Biles 'failed her country', 'quit on us', or 'can't be the greatest if she can't handle the pressure.' Those statements are no different than Coach Karolyi telling an injured teen with wide, frightened eyes: 'We got to go one more time. Shake it out.'

The subtext here is: 'Our gold medal is more important than your well-being.'

Our athletes shouldn't have to destroy themselves to meet our standards. If giving empathetic, authentic support to our Olympians means we'll earn less gold medals, I'm happy to make that trade.

Here's the message I hope we can send to Simone Biles: You are an outstanding athlete, a true role model, and a powerful woman. Nothing will change that. Please don't sacrifice your emotional or physical well-being for our entertainment or national pride. We are proud of you for being brave enough to compete, and proud of you for having the wisdom to know when to step back. Your choice makes you an even better example to our daughters than you were before. WE'RE STILL ROOTING FOR YOU!"

Many people shared Heath's sentiment, with comments pouring in thanking him for putting words to what they were feeling.

We're in a new era where our lens of what's admirable, what's strong, and what's right has shifted. We understand more about the lifelong impact of too many concussions. We have trainers and medics checking on football players after big hits. We are finding a better balance between competitiveness and well-being. We are acknowledging the importance of mental health and physical health.

We are also more aware of how both physical and mental trauma impacts young bodies. Though Kerri Strug pushing through the pain has long been seen as an iconic moment in sports, the adults in the room should have been protecting her, not pushing her through an obvious injury.

And the way this fall of Dominique Moceanu at age 14 was handled is downright shocking by today's standards. She said she never received an exam for it, even after the competition was over. So wrong.

Athletes are not cogs in a wheel, and the desire to win a competition should not trump someone's well-being. Elite gymnasts already put themselves through grueling physical and mental feats; they wouldn't be at the top of their sport if they didn't. But there are limits, and too often in our yearning for a gold medal—or even for a triumphant Olympic story—we push athletes too far.

Now we see some of them pushing back, and knowing what we know now, that's 100% a good thing.


This article originally appeared 3 years ago.

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5 reasons Simone Biles is arguably the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport

She has earned GOAT status for more than just her gymnastics medal record.

Agência Brasil Fotografias

Simone Biles is the GOAT.

Simone Biles has done it yet again, clinching her 20th gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship and leading the U.S. women's team to their historic 7th consecutive victory.

There is no question that Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast that has ever set foot on the mat. Her domination in the sport has been unparalleled, and she has earned every bit of praise she has received as a gymnast.

However, there's a solid argument to be made that she isn't just the GOAT of gymnastics, but truly the greatest athlete of all time. Yes, I know, it's a subjective title, comparing sports is like comparing apples and oranges and people will argue about who deserves that title the most. But hear me out before putting Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali or Jim Thorpe up against the 4-foot 8-inch wonder that is Simone Biles.

Here are 5 reasons she deserves the GOAT title:

simone biles smiling and waving from the podium

Simone Biles on the podium at the 2016 Olympics

Agência Brasil Fotografias

1. She has dominated her sport with the winningest record of all time

This is the easy argument, of course, and one that could be used for any athlete who holds the most gold medals and the most medals overall in their sport. Let's just see this as the foundation of the GOAT house that Simone built.

Biles has now won 26 world championship medals (20 gold, three silver and three bronze) and seven Olympic medals. That puts her at the top of women's gymnastics historical record and has her tied with Belarus' Vitaly Scherbo for most gymnastics medals, male or female, earned on the world stage.

Simone Biles upside down in the air

Simone Biles has five official moves named after her.

Agência Brasil Fotografias

2. She can do things no one else in her sport can do

There's winning championships, and then there's pushing your sport forward by inventing new moves or succeeding in feats no one has ever attempted, much less achieved, before.

Biles has done that, not once, not twice, not thrice, but a whopping five times. This single gymnast has five official moves named after her in the international rule book (one on balance beam, two on floor exercise and two on vault). She is pushing the boundaries of the sport like no one else ever has.

Every sport has had individuals who excel at a unique skill. Many of those individuals aren't also world champions. Most of them don't have multiple moves that bear their name because no one else has ever done them. Biles has done it all.

Simone Biles and other TeamUSA gymnasts celebrating

Simone Biles is is an effective team leader.

Agência Brasil Fotografias

3. She stands out as an individual competitor and as a team leader

Gymnastics is both an individual sport and a team sport, and Biles has proven her skills in both. As an individual competitor, obviously, Biles is No. 1. But she has also led the U.S. Women's Gymnastics team to victory time and time again.

Biles' teammates praised her leadership skills after she backed out of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 (which we'll get to in a moment). Though she was no longer competing herself, she stood on the sidelines and became her teammates' best cheerleader. Her teammates and coaches said that meant the world, and Biles' unwavering encouragement and support for her fellow gymnasts helped propel them to their own medal-winning performances.

To be able to dominate at the highest level as an individual and be an effective team leader is the mark of an exceptional athlete. Biles does both and makes it look easy.

Simone Biles looking serious

Simone Biles is a serious competitor

Agência Brasil Fotografias

4. She faced a devastating setback in her sport and came back on top

It's not easy to maintain the status of being "the best" at a sport. Being the best and then having a major setback disrupt your career is even more difficult. Overcoming that setback and returning not only to a high level of competition but jumping back up to the very top is something only GOATs do.

Biles did it. After getting the dreaded "twisties" at the Tokyo Olympics, Biles did the right thing and dropped out of the competition. (The twisties cause a gymnast to lose their sense of place in the air, creating both a frustrating and incredibly dangerous situation.) She could have called it quits then and no one would have blamed her.

But she didn't. She came back. And unlike some other star athletes who have pushed past their prime and lost some of their competitive edge, Biles is slaying once again, winning world titles like she was born for it.

She balances it with wisdom, but her competitive spirit is unstoppable.

Simone Biles holding her hands up

Simone Biles is now 26. Most elite female gymnasts retire by her age.

Agência Brasil Fotografias

5. She is well past retirement age and still dominating in her sport

Biles is 26 years old, which isn't old by most measures, but she's a bit of a grandma in the world of gymnastics. The average age for elite female gymnasts to retire is 22. There are other competitive gymnasts who are older than Biles, but they aren't up there on the world championship podium with her. The main reason gymnasts retire so early is the wear and tear gymnastics puts on their bodies. Biles continually pushes her body to do what no one else can do, and she's still going strong.

Her ability is unparalleled but her longevity is equally impressive. Peak time varies by sport, of course, but for a gymnast to be this dominant for this long is an incredible accomplishment.

Simone Biles with her hair down looking directly at the camera

Simone Biles is a tiny woman with an enormous legacy.

Vogue Taiwan (cropped)/Wikimedia

Honorable mention: She's a woman in a GOAT field filled with men

Should being a female athlete make a difference? Well, the International Certification of Excellence in Fitness (ICEF) seems to think so, since they made a list of the 10 Greatest Athletes of All Time and there's not a single female on it.

As the ICEF's Top 10 list unwittingly demonstrates, male athletes are automatically thought of as better athletes than women, no matter the variables, which is silly. No one is putting Babe Ruth up against Muhammad Ali as having the same or even similar skills, so why are there no women at all on this list?

I'd put Simone Biles up against any of these 10 men for all-time athlete GOAT. Yes, even Michael Jordan, who holds the top spot. He holds records in his sport. He pushed the boundaries of basketball. He was an individual standout and a good team player. He overcame setbacks (more in his personal life than the sport itself, but still) and he came out of retirement twice to keep playing. Heck, he was even famous for defying gravity. Simone Biles has done all of that on a global level—and on a beam 4 inches wide.

No one can argue with a straight face that gymnastics is an easy sport—the years of intense training and discipline and the combination of strength, agility, flexibility, gracefulness and body control elite gymnastics requires are utterly bonkers. Arguably, gymnastics requires more athleticism than many other sports, so Simone Biles' total domination of the sport for this long at this level certainly qualifies her for GOAT status—not just among gymnasts, but among all athletes of all time.

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Incredible video shows how drastically gymnastics skills have evolved over the decades

Wow, how things have changed.

MTV News/YouTube

An MTV News video shows how much gymnastics has evolved over the decades.

In 1952, a 25-year-old medical student did what people had said was impossible. Roger Bannister made history when he ran a mile in under four minutes, shifting the sports world and challenging our ideas about the limits of athletic performance.

Since then, countless records have been set in every sport people play. We keep getting better and better, and just when we think someone has surely reached the pinnacle, someone else comes along to push the limit even further.

One sporting event where such constant improvement is made crystal clear is gymnastics. I remember how enthralled we all were with Mary Lou Retton's perfect 10 vaults when I was a kid, and now they look fairly basic. (Not to take anything away from her—at the time it was truly amazing, and she did execute them flawlessly.)

A video showing how much competitive gymnastics has evolved has gone viral on Twitter. The timing it claims is incorrect, however; it says it shows "100 years different in athletic ability," from 1912 to 2012, but the videos from the past are clearly from the 1940s or '50s.

The fact that the sport has evolved so much in an even shorter period of time is more impressive, actually, as an MTV News video shows. Check this out:

Granted, Simone Biles pushed the sport even further than it had already gone, but that's really the point. Someone will come along in a year or five and blow Simone Biles off the mat. Even the best of the best get bested eventually. It's just the way it goes.

But why? Have human bodies really changed that much in a few generations? And why is record-breaking usually done in such dramatically small increments? Rarely do we see someone come along and completely obliterate a previous time or previous feat. It's usually just a tiny bit better, a tiny bit faster, a tiny bit more precise—just enough to break the record, but not push much further. Over and over and over.

We should give record-breakers the credit they're due, but the evolution of athletic performance is not all about individuals and what they can do. So much about sports has improved over time, from the apparatuses athletes use to the training methods they employ to the nutrition they consume. The mats, fields, tracks, and so on, are not the same today as they were decades ago.

Additionally, peak performance has become an entire multifaceted industry and field of study, and what we know about how to optimize ability keeps expanding.

At some point, though, we have to actually hit our physical limits, don't we? Or do we? Will humans be able to run a 1-minute mile in 300 years? Will all of the elements that affect athletic performance be honed and trained such that we'll be able to do the impossible-for-now?

According to Scientific American, we may be getting closer to plateauing at our human limits, as record-breaking appears to be slowing in pace. And, of course, as biotechnology evolves, we have to wonder what parameters we even put on what "counts" when it comes to achievement. Performance-enhancing drugs have already created conundrums in competitive sports; how much more will genetic tinkering and the like?

All questions we don't have answers for, but it is fun to imagine what humans will be able to do in another 50 or 100 years, isn't it?

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In emotional testimony, U.S. gymnasts lambaste investigators of Larry Nassar's sexual abuse

C-SPAN

When the "Me Too" movement sparked a firestorm of stories of sexual harassment and abuse, the world learned what most women already knew. Sexual abuse isn't rare. And far too often, it is covered up, with the perpetrator being protected while victims are left to languish.

Few stories have made that reality more clear than the uncovering of the years-long, widespread sexual abuse of young female athletes on the U.S. women's gymnastics team by the team's physician, Larry Nassar. The scope of his abuse is mind-blowing. The fact that it was happening all the time, behind the scenes, while the young women he was abusing were in the spotlight winning medal after medal, is shocking.

Now we're finding out how bad the investigations were, how these women were dismissed, ignored, and neglected, how investigators allowed the abuse to continue despite ample evidence that it was happening. That is simply enraging.

In emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman spoke frankly about what they experienced. Their stories deserve to be heard and their criticisms of the investigations need to be taken seriously.

Simone Biles took a moment to collect herself during her opening statement.

"I sit before you today to raise my voice so that no little girl must endure what I, the athletes at this table, and the countless others who needlessly suffered under Nassar's guise of medical treatment, which we continue to endure today," she said. "We suffered and continue to suffer, because no one at FBI, USAG, or the USOPC did what was necessary to protect us. We have been failed, and we deserve answers. Nassar is where he belongs, but those who enabled him deserve to be held accountable. If they are not, I am convinced that this will continue to happen to others across Olympic sports...

"A message needs to be sent: if you allow a predator to harm children, the consequences will be swift and severe. Enough is enough."

McKayla Maroney was blunt in her assessment of what happened to her and offered a scathing rebuke of the FBI investigators. who she says falsified what she told them and "conceal Nassar's crimes from the public, the media, other law enforcement agencies, and most importantly, other victims."

"They chose to protect a serial child molester, rather than protect not only me but countless others," she said.

(Warning: Detailed descriptions of sexual abuse.)

Maggie Nichols' opening statement personalized her abuse: "I was named as Gymnast 2 in the Office of Inspector General's report and previously identified as Athlete A by USA Gymnastics. I want everyone to know that this did not happen to Gymnast 2 or to Athlete A. It happened to me, Maggie Nichols."

Aly Raisman detailed what an abysmal failure the investigations into Nassar were, and shared her frustration that they are still seeking answers six years later.

"The FBI and others within both USAG and USOPC knew that Nassar molested children and did nothing to restrict his access," she said. "Steve Penny and any USAG employee could have walked a few steps to file a report with Indiana Child Protective Services, since they shared the same building.

"Instead they quietly allowed Nassar to slip out the side door, knowingly allowing him to continue his "work" at MSU, Sparrow Hospital, a USAG club, and even to run for school board. Nassar found more than 100 new victims to molest. It was like serving innocent children up to a pedophile on a silver platter."

Each of these women's testimonies matters. It takes strength and courage it takes to speak about abuse you've experienced in a public forum, much less to call out powerful institutions for their failures. Kudos to these fierce defenders of justice and protectors of children for sharing their stories and for attempting to ensure that the systems that failed them will not continue to allow harm to others.







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