What a difference four years and a gold medal make. After the Barcelona Olympics, women’s gymnastics was decried as the only celebrated form of child abuse. But after the historic triumph in Atlanta, gymnastics looms as America’s next great family entertainment, coming at you–on tour, on TV and on Wheaties boxes this fall.
The ““official’’ tour, starring almost every ‘96 U.S. Olympian, male and female, is on its 34-city way. A rival tour, with Olympic heroine Strug headlining, is scheduled to begin next month. On TV, there will be a host of events–““exhibition, semicompetitions,’’ USA Gymnastics president Kathy Scanlan calls them–in which gymnasts compete by nation, gender and, ultimately perhaps, foot size. ““Our sport is definitely ready to take the next leap,’’ says Strug. ““If it’s ever going to happen, it’s going to happen now.’'
Gymnastics hopes to follow in the tracks of figure skating. After the Tonya vs. Nancy wars during the 1994 Winter Olympics, skating went prime time. Made-for-the-public events filled arenas and drew good TV ratings. To become more audience-friendly, figure skating chucked the boring compulsory routines; next season, official gymnastics competitions will drop its boring compulsories. Promoters who created new faux competitions for skaters–the U.S. vs. the World–are now doing the same for gymnasts. Still, producer Feig says, gymnastics can’t yet match skating’s personalities and rivalries. ““We need another Mary Lou Retton,’’ he says.
Don’t tell that to Kerri Strug, who has been taking a star turn on her gimpy ankle ever since Atlanta. She sat next to Chelsea Clinton at the president’s 50th-birthday party and beside Bob Hope at the Family Film Festival. She appeared in an episode of ““Beverly Hills 90210,’’ rang the bell to close Wall Street trading and tossed the coin at a New York Jets football game. (It hasn’t been all fun; she had to watch the Jets game, too.) ““I know we won the medal as a team, but definitely my circumstances have changed,’’ says Strug, who still plans to attend UCLA starting this week. ““It’s a one-in-a-million opportunity to be like Mary Lou Retton.''
Even before Atlanta, USA Gymnastics had cut a deal with Bill Graham Productions and Jefferson-Pilot Sports to create a tour and TV events. They signed Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu, but overlooked nonstar Strug. So when a rivaal tour emerged and dangled million-dollar offers at the gymnasts, Strug leaped –and Atlanta’s self-proclaimed ““Magnificent Seven’’ became ““And Then There Were Six.’’ ““Greed and avarice have clearly come into play,’’ says David D’Alessandro, senior VP for ““official’’ tour sponsor John Hancock. The original deal was reconfigured so that each of the six women’s-team members will earn more than $200,000. Miller, the most accomplished American gymnast ever, has no regrets about signing on early. ““They put it on the line long before we were a gold-medal team,’’ she says.
But Strug, who also signed with the Ice Capades, could net $4 million to $6 million before the next Summer Olympics, says her agent, Leigh Steinberg. ““We’re not saying Kerri is the best in the world,’’ he says. ““This is about who struck the public’s fancy.’’ As Bela asks, why not? ^
