At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics the U.S. women’s gymnastics team was on the edge of its first-ever team gold, but the Russians were closing fast. Kerri Strug fell on her first vault and heard a loud pop in her left ankle. She could barely feel her leg, but her coaches shouted that they needed one more. “I could feel the gold slipping away,” she said. “I felt like I had to do it. I felt I owed it to everyone.” She sprinted down the runway, landed her second vault, held her feet just long enough for the judges, then lifted her injured foot and collapsed to her knees. She scored a 9.712, and the U.S. won the gold.
