Kerri Strug went down, and it looked as if the dream would die right there.
The Magnificient Seven had their grasp on Olympic gold against the Russians after taking a huge lead going into the final event, but after stumbles from Dominique Moceanu (who later claimed she was beaten by the famed Karolyi trainers), their seemingly insurmountable lead had vanished, and when Strug stumbled and was injured the second time around, it looked as if the United States would blow another chance to beat Russia in the gymnastic arena.
But Strug stood up, walked back to the podium for one more mount, and delivered perhaps the most dramatic triumph in U.S. gymnastics history.
Interestingly enough, Strug's second jump ultimately wasn't needed to win the gold. But at the time no one knew, and the drama of that event still lives on 16 years later.
Strug would later go onto attend UCLA before finishing her studies at Stanford. Although she wasn't a Pac-12 individual quite yet, her resolve was typical of the standard of excellence the conference sets in its Olympic sports.
(Here is the video of Strug's moment from NBC Olympics)
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