Kerri Allyson Strug (born November 19, 1977) is an American retired gymnast from Tucson, Arizona.

She was a member of the Magnificent Seven, the victorious all-around women's gymnastics team that represented the United States at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

She was eventually edged out by Zmeskal, with Shannon Miller and Betty Okino as the other two American gymnasts to qualify for the all-around.

In 1995, Strug graduated from Green Fields Country Day School in Tucson, Arizona.

She beat the competition at the 1996 American Cup in the all-around by almost a half point,[5] a huge margin with the scoring system at that time.

She also placed 1st on floor exercises and balance beam and 2nd on vault and uneven bars in the event finals.

Adding to the drama, Strug's teammate Dominique Moceanu fell twice, registering a poor score.

[8] After leading the entire night, the U.S. was at risk of losing to Russia, and Strug needed a second vault score of 9.762 to mathematically clinch the gold.

She landed the vault briefly on both feet, almost instantly hopping onto only her uninjured foot, saluting the judges.

She then collapsed onto her knees and needed assistance off the landing platform, to which sportscaster John Tesh commented, "Kerri Strug is hurt!

[6][9] Due to her injury, she was unable to compete in the individual all-around competition and event finals, despite having qualified for both.

This allowed her teammates who had qualified for finals, but were eliminated due to rules limiting the number of gymnasts per country, to take Strug's place.

Strug became a national sports hero for her final vault, visiting President Bill Clinton, appearing at various television talk shows, making the cover of Sports Illustrated and appearing on a Wheaties cereal box with other team members.

As a professional, she could not compete in NCAA gymnastics events, so she worked for a time as team manager instead, a behind-the-scenes role.

She worked as a staff assistant with the White House Office of Presidential Student Correspondence, moved to a job at the General Counsel in the Treasury Department, and in March 2005, joined the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention staff as a presidential appointee.

Also in 2008, her history-making ordeal at the 1996 Olympic Games was featured in a commercial, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman for the "Go World" campaign.

[19][20] She married attorney Robert Fischer at the Skyline Country Club in Tucson, Arizona, on April 25, 2010.