Julissa Gomez
ABOUT JULISSA GOMEZ
Promising gymnast who became a quadriplegic after a fatal vaulting accident at the 1988 World Sports Fair in Tokyo.
She trained in Houston, Texas, at the gym of Bela Karolyi , who helped many Olympic greats.
On live television in Japan she missed the springboard on her vault, crashing down head-first and becoming paralyzed in the process.
Her parents moved from San Antonio to Houston to give her better training in gymnastics. After her accident, a mistake at the hospital left her in a coma. She died three months later at age eighteen.
Her coached in Houston, Karolyi, also trained Nadia Comaneci , who was the first to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics.
