Magnificent Seven (gymnastics)

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The Magnificent Seven was the 1996 United States Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team which won the first ever Gold Medal for the United States in the Women's Team Competition at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The seven members of the team were Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Dominique Moceanu, Kerri Strug, Amy Chow, Amanda Borden and Jaycie Phelps.

[edit] 1996 Olympics

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The accomplishment was considered phenomenal because the by then defunct Soviet Union had won the event in every Olympics it had entered since the 1950s. Furthermore, the United States had never won the event in the Olympics - or the World Championships. Yet, in Atlanta, they fielded the deepest U.S. team in history and upstaged both the Russians and the Romanians, the reigning as World Champion for the second time.

The leader of the Magnificent 7 is often considered to be Shannon Miller, the most decorated American gymnast in history. The other two individual stars on the team were Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu. Yet, Kerri Strug qualified for the All-Around over Moceanu when Moceanu fell on both of her vaults as the second to last gymnast to perform. Moments later, Strug fell on her first vault, injuring her ankle, and in the most enduring moment of the Games, she vaulted again, landed, collapsed, and had to be carried off the podium. The vault assured Kerri a place in the All-Around, but she was unable to compete due to the injury. The highest two scoring athletes on the team during the compulsories did not even perform at Olympic Trials. Both Miller and Moceanu had been sidelined with injury, but were named to the team anyway, proving that the petition-system was in the team's best interest.

The other three members on the team were less heralded. Nevertheless they were an integral part of the team's success. Amy Chow had the most difficulty of anyone on the team, most notably on the uneven bars. Jaycie Phelps provided clean lines and solid gymnastics on all four events. And the final member to qualify for the team, Amanda Borden, was named Team Captain due to her vivacious personality.^{[citation needed]}

In the All-Around finals Dominique Moceanu had a big balance check after her punch front on the balance beam which ultimately knocked her out of contention when she only scored a 9.600. Despite the low score she still managed to finish 9th in the all-around. In stark contrast, Dominique Dawes and Shannon Miller both started out on the uneven bars, and after the first two rotations (uneven bars and balance beam) they were in 1st (DD) and 2nd place (SM). The excitement however, proved to be short lived. Miller came up short on her first tumbling pass on floor (a double layout), and stepped out of bounds on her last tumbling pass on floor (a full twisting double back). A score of 9.475 dashed any dreams of a medal for her. Next up was Dawes, and while doing a punch front on floor she fell out of bounds. She scored a 9.000 and just like that team USA was completely out of the all-around contention. Miller ended up placing 8th, while Dawes placed 18th. World champion Lilia Podkopayeva took the title, while the three Romanians took revenge for their disappointing team bronze by sweeping the minor medals (Gina Gogean was 2nd, Simona Amanar and Lavinia Milosovici tied for 3rd).

During event finals team USA did considerably better. On day one of event finals on vault both Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes (subbing for an injured Kerri Strug) competed. Neither were flawless, with Miller falling on her second vault, and they finished 6th (DD) and 8th (SM). Simona Amanar of Romania won with a 9.825 average, while Mo Huilan of China finished second (9.768) and Gina Gogean of Romania third (9.750).

On the next event, uneven bars, both Amy Chow and Dominique Dawes competed. Amy Chow had a great routine to score a 9.837 which tied Bi Weijing for second. Svetlana Khorkina finished first (9.850) and Dominique Dawes finished fourth (9.800).

On the balance beam event finals was where the USA crowd saw the most drama. Dominique Moceanu and Shannon Miller were both competing, and they were both supposed to challenge for gold. Moceanu, however, had a very scary fall. During her flight series of a back handspring followed by 3 layouts, she missed her foot on the second layout but still flipped over and smashed her head into the beam. Somehow she was able to grab onto the beam with both hands, but the damage had already been done with a score of 9.125 and 6th place. Miller, however, had the routine of her life to score a 9.862 and win the beam title. She got the only individual gold for the Americans that Olympics, and it's only been repeated once since then when Carly Patterson won the all-around at the 2004 Olympic Games.

During the floor final Dominique Moceanu and Dominique Dawes both competed. They both had great routines, however Dawes was just a little better for a 9.837 and 3rd place, while Moceanu received a 9.825 and 4th place. The crowd loved Moceanu's cute choreography and presentation, but her tumbling was not as difficult as the three medallists.

[edit] Post Olympics

The Magnificent Seven went on tour after their gold medal performance. Strug, however, with her new-found stardom, elected not to join the other six members, but rather to perform on another tour in which she was offered more money.

The entire team appeared on the Wheaties Box and on several talk shows. Miller, once again the most successful member of the team following her 5 medal total in the Barcelona Games, captured the only individual gold for the American women. Her gold medal on the balance beam was a first for an American, and to this day, she remains the only American to ever win the balance beam at the Olympics.