Joe Paterno to resign at end of season

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Karolyi urged Karri Shuggs to take her second (last) run on the vault, even though it was obvious she had been injured on her first run.
Bela Karolyi went on to be hailed as a great coach, but for me his was a betrayal of his first responsibility.

Did you read an interview with either the coach or Kerri that actually indicated this? Because my guess is, a horde of coaches, parents, and teammates could not have stopped Kerri from doing her second run. You don't get to be an athlete of that caliber by quitting when you've hurt yourself. (Not necessarily saying that's a good thing, it's just a true thing.)

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Did you read an interview with either the coach or Kerri that actually indicated this?
Because my guess is, a horde of coaches, parents, and teammates
could not have stopped Kerri from doing her second run.
You don't get to be an athlete of that caliber by quitting when you've hurt yourself.
(Not necessarily saying that's a good thing, it's just a true thing.)

Yes, I personally remember a video of Kerri telling Karoyli she was hurt,
and asking Karoyli what to do. He told her to go ahead.

Here are two text accounts I found just by a simple Google search
based on "Karoyli tells Kerri Shrug"


ESPN

There is chaos on the sidelines. Strug's ankle is throbbing badly.
Her head is aching. Her teammates encourage her. The U.S. coaches look up at the scoreboard,
then over at the Russians doing the floor exercises.
The coaches can't compute quickly enough whether Strug even has to vault a second time,
on a sprained ankle, in order to guarantee the American women the gold medal.

Questions abound. Should the U.S. coaches hold Strug back from doing the second vault?
But what if she doesn't vault a second time and the Russians wind up winning?
U.S. Coach Bela Karolyi walks over to the ailing Strug,
puts his arm around her and says softly, "Kerri, we need you to go one more time.
We need you one more time for the gold."

Strug rises from the floor, removes the ice pack from her ankle and says a prayer:
"Please, God, help me make this vault." She's performed this vault more than a thousand times.
"I know I can do it one more time, injured ankle or not," she thinks to herself.

Karolyi helps Strug rise to her feet and helps her to the runway.
"This is the Olympics," she would say later the media.
"This is what you dream about from when you're 5 years old.
I wasn't going to stop."

NY Daily News
Mike Lupica
7/25/96

Bela's The Bully Boy Karolyi Mines Gold At Girls' Expense

ATLANTA The face of the Olympics, the face of women's gymnastics,
was not Kerri Strug running fiercely and bravely toward the vault,
running as if her life depended on these next moments, running on an ankle
ruined with pain at the Georgia Dome, running straight for the gold medal
for which she had traded away being a teenager.

The real face of the Olympics, of this sad sport, was Strug's personal coach,
Bela Karolyi, watching her. Karolyi did not care about the pain shooting up
from Strug's left ankle when she landed. He just cared that she landed.

The medal was more important to Karolyi than Kerri Strug.
It was there in the Georgia Dome and on all the replays.
Karolyi is looking right through her, already looking to the top of the medal stand.
<snip>.

There is much more to the Daily News article, most all of it damning Karyoli.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

There is much more to the Daily News article, most all of it damning Karyoli.

Depends on your point of view.

These are Olympians, and making sacrifices for their sport is what they do.

It paid off for her. I'm sure she would do it again. Sure he pushed her, but she needed pushing to reach her goal.

You can argue about parents who push their little kids into gymnastics in the first place. But once you choose that path, you need to stay focused on it. Especially when you are so close to your goal.

[xoxoxoBruce]

There was no guaranty she would do well if she did try.
Did he push her or tell her what was at stake and let her decide?