EXTENDED VOICES: Kerri Strug Reflects on '96 Olympics

July 16, 2006 — -- Ten years ago next week, 17-year-old Kerri Strug struck gold at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Now a worker battling juvenile crime for the Department of Justice, Strug recently reflected on her Olympic win with ABC News' "This Week."

Kerri Strug: Well, it's hard to believe it's been 10 years since Atlanta. You know, in some aspects, it seems just like yesterday. But I think I've done a lot since then. I've had some amazing opportunities that have come out of what we accomplished as a team in Atlanta. And I've tried to kind of utilize my position to make a difference, to contribute to society in different ways. I go around the country and speak to different organizations and corporations and for so long, you know, I've always dreamt of being the next Mary Lou and to accomplish your dream at the age of 18 is just amazing. You know, that was the highlight of my life.

I think from the time I was six years old and I watched Mary Lou Retton win her gold medal at the 1984 summer games, I dreamed of being the next Olympic champion. And I would watch her videos over and over again, and when the National Anthem would play I would think about myself up there on the podium and what I would be thinking and feeling.

And 12 long years later, in Atlanta, there I was. For so many of us, you hear your teachers or your parents or your idols tell you, "Work hard. Anything's possible." I do it now when I go to these camps or I go to different conferences with youth and tell them, "Really work hard at what you love. Find your passion and, you know, the sky's the limit."

But until you actually live it and accomplish it, it's just words. And for me, it's a moment I'll cherish forever, being up there on the awards podium. And I think for so long I thought I knew exactly how my Olympic experience was to go and I had prepared so long and hard for it to enact in a certain way and it didn't go according to plan at all.

I never imagined that I would be injured, that everything would be up to me. For so long in the gymnastics community, I was kind of known as the bridesmaid. I worked really hard and I was always up there, but I was never the focus. I wasn't the Kim Zmeskal, the Shannon Miller, the Dominique Moceanu.