The Vault She Never Needed - July 23, 1996

On July 23, 1996, Kerri Strug vaulted on a torn ankle to clinch Olympic gold for Team USA, a moment gymnastics has celebrated for thirty years. The math behind that scoreboard tells a different story: the gold was already won before she ever ran a second time. This episode holds her own account of that choice alongside the coaching culture that made it look like the only option, and traces the same institution's path to the Larry Nassar reckoning and Simone Biles's stand in Tokyo.