Kerri Strug Olympic Gymnast For Kids (Audio Only)

Welcome to Bedtime History. Have you heard of the Olympics before? The Olympics is a huge event that happens once every four years where countries from all over the world come together in one place to compete at different sporting events. It starts off with a big parade and is an exciting time for everyone in the world. Tonight we're going to learn about a young girl named Carrie Strug and her hard work and determination that led her to the Great Olympic Games and what she accomplished there. Carrie was born in Tucson, Arizona and started taking gymnastics classes when she was only three years old. She went to gymnastic practice almost every day and worked very hard there. It wasn't always easy, but she loved gymnastics and wanted to be very good at it. She loved swinging on the bars and doing cartwheels and flips on the mats, and by the time she was eight, Carrie was competing against other gymnasts. Soon after this, she started practicing very seriously with a special coach so she could go on to the Great Olympic Games. It is what every gymnast in the world wants to do. Her family even decided to move. They believed it was so important for her. It probably wasn't easy moving schools, having to make new friends, but Carrie was determined to reach her goal. When Carrie was only 14, she went to her first Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. She was the youngest girl on the team and got to fly far across the ocean with the rest of her team. At the Olympics, they worked very hard and did their best and ended up winning a bronze medal, which is a very great award, but it is third place. More than anything, Carrie wanted to win a gold medal, but for many years the gold medal in gymnastics was won by the Russian and Romanian teams, who are very, very good. In between Olympics, Carrie continued to practice every day. She continued to learn more and build stronger muscles and improve until she could be the best gymnast she could be. There were times she fell and got hurt, and it was hard to get back up, and she had a goal in mind and kept going. One time she was swinging around a bar and hit another bar and it hurt her so badly she had to go to the hospital. It took a lot of time for her to train her body so she could compete again, but nothing could stop Carrie. Around this time, her coach from the first Olympics, Bella Caroli, started to work with her again. She continued to do well in other competitions, preparing for the Olympics, but finally the Olympics came again. This time it was in Atlanta, Georgia, and Carrie joined her team of other gymnasts who became known as the Magnificent Seven. When Carrie got to the Olympics, she saw the Russian gymnasts and remembered how good they were. They always seemed to win, and Carrie and her friends wanted the gold medal so badly. When the games began, the Russian gymnasts were doing very well. They had also trained very long and hard and also wanted the gold medal. For many days the Russians were getting higher scores, and Carrie and her team wondered if they could win. On the last day, it was Carrie's turn, and she ran as fast as she could across the mat, did a cartwheel, then a back handspring, and flipped several times and landed on the mat, but her feet didn't land right and she hurt a snap. Then she fell and her ankle was hurt very badly. She wanted to cry, but held it in and limped off the mat. By this time the score was very close, and she would have to do the flip one more time if she wanted her team to win the gold medal, but her foot hurt very badly. She didn't know if she could do it again. You can do it, her coach Bella said to her. You can do it. Everyone was cheering her on. They believed she could do it again, even though she was in so much pain. So when it was her turn, Carrie took a deep breath, tried to forget the pain in her foot, and started at the beginning of the mat. She wanted to win so much, she knew she could do it. She heard the crowds cheering. She started running, even though her foot was hurting. She did another cartwheel, and back handspring, and many flips. When she came down on the mat, she landed with both feet. It was amazing. The crowd cheered wildly. She had done it. With her hurt ankle, she had done the flip and landed on both feet. The judges gave her a very good score. They could see she was hurt. She was taken to the hospital so they could bandage her leg. On the final day of the Olympics, Carrie was carried out to the crowd by her coach Bella, with her bandaged leg. And there she and her team got to listen to the Star Spangled Banner, America's song, as they were given gold medals. After all their practice and hard work, their dreams had come true. This was Carrie's last Olympic Games, but as she got older, she went on to do other important things that weren't in the news as much, but still important. She became an ice skater and also finished college. Carrie then went on to teach elementary school in California, and later got married and became a mom to two kids. Like Carrie, when we have goals, we can work toward them. Every day we may need to do something to make them happen. We can dream and dream, but in order for those dreams to become true, we have to do something about them, even if they are small things. And what you do doesn't always have to be in the news or make you famous, but if it's improving yourself or helping others around you, then that is what is most important. If you enjoyed this episode, you can go to facebook.com forward slash bedtime history and like our page and share it with your friends. You can also find our videos at youtube.com forward slash bedtime history.