Shannon Miller: My Child, My Hero by Claudia Miller

[QuietColours]

I'm going to give this another try. Please, if there are any questions or confusion about the summaries, ask me here. I actually own this one, so I'm happy to go back and look up exact quotes. Per usual, unless explicitly marked, the opinions and analyses come from the book, not me.

This is Claudia Miller's biography of Shannon, published in 1999. After the beginning, chapters are long and detailed, so it will probably be one a day/one every other day if people are interested.

Foreword, by Shannon Miller

• 21 years old at time of writing
• The constants of her career: Support from her coaches, community, and family
• Often talks with parents about sacrifices made, but doesn’t think they were really sacrifices—she loves being in the gym and pushing herself

Prologue

• Opens with feeling stunned when Shannon sat down her vault in Atlanta after she missed the horse with one hand
• Knew Shannon would be feeling embarrassed and frustrated and like she had let down the crowd
• Shannon was the top scoring American in the team competition
• Mag 7: Seven friends, fiercely competitive in national events but functioning as a unit in world competition
• Had hit her vaults in warm up of the vault final and only a small step on her first one
• Said she knew something was wrong as soon as she hit the springboard for her second vault
• After the competition, Nunno met with Ron and Claudia (Shannon’s parents) and asked them to talk to her and help her pull herself together before the beam final the next day

Chapter One: In the Beginning

• Shannon was born on her due date, 5 lbs 6 oz—small but healthy
• At four months, the doctor noticed her legs turned in too much. Started with home PT, but then she was required to wear baby shoes attached a metal bar that would keep her legs turned out—should only be removed for baths, and might have to be worn for a year
• Shannon hated it, but they stuck with it. They were warned it might delay her gross motor milestones, but she crawled at 8 months and walked before 12. Claudia speculates she was keeping up with her big sister, Tessa (two years older)
• Lost Shannon in a department store shortly after she learned to walk. She made her way from the children’s clothing to men’s shoes and was trying on shoes when they finally found her 15 minutes later
• Jokes that Shannon is still obsessed with shoes, but her taste has improved
• Tessa was Shannon’s first role model—wanted to go with Tessa, dress like Tessa, would do whatever Tessa said
• Got the girls a jungle gym when they were 3.5 and 18 months; Tessa quickly mastered it, then shortly after that she found Shannon at the top
• Tessa was enrolled in dance at 6. Shannon was not because she was only four and money was tight. The next time Grandma called, Shannon told her sad story and Shannon got dance classes
• Loved the classes, wore her costume around the house and for Halloween afterwards. When she outgrew it, she wore Tessa’s
• After a year, Tessa decided to move on. She discussed it with Shannon and both girls quit. Mother hoped they’d do it again when they got older, but it was nice not driving them twice a week, especially since their little brother Troy had been born in Dec 1980
• Shannon would wheel her brother around the house in her doll carriage

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter Two: Trampoline Tricks

• Got a backyard trampoline the Christmas before they quit dance lessons (Shannon was 4)
• Parents were worried it would be too dangerous and expensive, and that the girls wouldn’t understand why there weren’t any other presents. But they also knew that the girls were counting on receiving one because they’d asked Santa and Santa rewards good girls.
• Grandma came through again and helped pay for it
• Shannon declared Santa had brought it for her, but she would share
• It was 9 degrees out and the trampoline had to be assembled. Dad, Uncle, and Grandpa put on their coats
• Girls spent hours on it—speculates it may have contributed to the decreased interest in dance. After a few weeks, Shannon was doing flips; Tessa soon followed. Parents decided they needed to channel their energy someplace they were less likely to get hurt and enrolled them in gymnastics
• Left messages at 3 gyms that were in the Yellow Pages. One called back, so they went there.
• Owner was Jerry Clavier. At the start of the summer, he wanted both girls to come for an hour a day, five days a week as part of the pre-team group. Claudia was worried they would get burnt out and quit
• Tessa didn’t want to do it—she decided to quit and take art classes. Shannon begged to do pre-team.
• When Shannon started school, gym schedule became 3 days a week (including Saturday) for 2.5 hours/day. Her parents thought it was too intense for a 6-year-old, but her coach said she had the potential to do more than she was. He volunteered to give free weekly private lessons for an extra hour on Saturdays to up train.
• Soon wanted to move her to working out with the Class II and III gymnasts
  • Classes: There were five levels of gymnasts, from beginners in Class IV to advanced Class I, and then elites. This was the system used before the current 10 level system
• Shannon was working out with girls who were 12-15 years old. They accepted her and treated her with respect
• People mistake Shannon’s quietness for shyness. Mother says she has a brave, feisty streak
• On vacation in Denver, the girls were climbing the walls so they tried to put Shannon in a local gymnastics class while they were there. The coach didn’t want to take a child for just a few days, even after Claudia told him she’d been doing gymnastics for a year. Shannon told him she could do a back handspring on floor and a back walkover on the high beam. The coach agreed to let her show him and was surprised not only that she could do them, but also by her form. Shannon then did a back walkover on high beam and her mother realized she had never seen Shannon do that before, but didn’t have time to stop her. The coaches wanted to enroll Shannon in their special class and had to be convinced she lived in another state
• In less than a year, Shannon could keep up with or surpass the other gymnasts on Jerry’s gymnastics teams. He learned about a program USAIGC (a separate program to USAG's predecessor, USGF) was developing to test and identify talented younger gymnasts and send them to training camps and thought it would be good for Shannon. Testing would be in Waco, Texas, and Claudia agreed to drive Jerry and Shannon
• Only a few other girls were there, and they were well prepared. Shannon didn’t know the names of some of the strength and flexibility skills they asked her to do. 70 was passing and Shannon got a little over 50. No one passed that day.
• Gary Goodson, who was giving the test, came over and said he thought she had done very well for her age, size, and experience. He gave them a copy of the strength and flexibility skills and explained once she passed that part of the test, she’d be eligible for part two, apparatus skills, which had to be completed within 6 months of passing part one. They hadn’t known there was a part two.
• Jerry began training Shannon to retake the test, and when they had time they worked on the skills for part two. Shannon enjoyed it at first, but training press handstands got boring and she struggled to master it. Jerry wanted her doing it every evening, but Shannon was bored of it at the gym and didn’t want to do it at home
• Parents told her if she worked on her presses every night with no complaints, they would get her a Cabbage Patch doll when she could do it by herself. They thought they had a month or two for the dolls to become available in their area (they weren't released nationwide yet). Shannon got the skill in just a few days with that motivation. Fortunately a local store got a shipment. Parents had to wait in line for over 5 hours, but got a doll. Shannon was ecstatic and named him Oscar
• Other parents had heard about the USAIGC test and wanted to do it, so there was a new pre-team group of five girls about the same age, all talented and competitive
• All five girls passed, with Shannon having the high score of 86
• All the gym work was eating in to Shannon’s tv time, so she started putting her leo under her pajamas and wearing it to school the next day, to save changing time so she could watch more tv. Parents discovered this when her school pictures came back with her leotard sleeve visible
• The workouts were wearing Shannon out. Once she fell asleep on the school bus and no one noticed until the bus arrived back at the bus barn at the end of the route. After that, Ron started picking the girls up from school some days to save them the hour long bus ride—the school was only 10 minutes away, but they were at the end of the route
• Jerry was training the girls hard, but worried about any passing and regularly asked the parents to reconsider—he had watched it when the girls had tested for part one and seen how hard it was to pass
• Girls were allowed two attempts to pass each skill. Shannon did things she’d never done in training, such as her first giant. Shannon was the high scorer, but all five girls qualified junior elite at about 8 years old
• Jerry learned about a camp held by Bela Karolyi in Houston—thought it would be good for morale and Jerry could benefit from working with the more experienced coaches. Parents and girls agreed
• Standard story on Bela and Martha’s background, defection, and rise in America. Bela was known as a tough taskmaster, almost militaristic, who controlled every aspect of his gymnasts lives and had no patience for gymnasts who didn’t live up to his demands. But also a teddy bear of a coach with big hugs after they competed.
• Claudia had recently become a gymnastics judge and was eager to learn more. She judged for ten years, took a couple of years off, and was an active judge again at the time of writing
• Explains the difference between compulsories and optionals and the newer level system
• At the camp, Shannon was in an advanced group without any of her teammates because she had ‘a full twisting back somersault’ (my guess a full twisting back layout?). She especially liked the beam coach, who also seemed to like her. Shannon got a Bela hug for connecting two BHS on beam, which motivated her to work harder than ever.
• Shannon knew Bela was important because of Mary Lou. One day there was a rumor Mary Lou was at the camp—all the gymnasts and parents milled around the parking lot hoping to see her, but she slipped in and out without making an appearance and the gymnasts were crushed. After this experience, Shannon always tries to hide her disappointment if she’s interrupted out-and-about and be gracious. Claudia also says Shannon now considers MLR a good friend and a great role model
• Shannon was chosen to exhibition bars and floor for everyone at the end of camp. She got to work with Bela personally. Claudia and Shannon both got pictures with him. The initial picture Claudia and another mother took with him came out with Bela headless, so after she saw the results from the 1-hour photo development place, she went back to take another picture. Bela laughed and had a different person take the picture for them
• The girls were excited after the camp, but they were still too young to compete and gym got boring again quickly. Just before Shannon turned 9, they were invited to join a delegation of Canadian gymnasts training in the USSR for two weeks. Jerry was excited, parents were daunted—the kids were all about 9, too young to travel without a parent, which increased the cost considerably. They did a car wash and bake sale, then they decided to do a gymnastics show to show the community what the girls could do and ask the community to support them.
• Around this time, Claudia got to the gym and heard the girls screaming—a tornado was heading straight toward the gym. They gathered the kids together and got the kids in a nearby ditch. The tornado missed them, but she was unable to reach her family (who were also in the tornado’s path) because the lines were down. Her family was safe, but the tornado had taken out many houses in the neighborhood across from them. About the same time, Chernobyl was happening.
• Seven weeks later, they flew to Russia. They only actually worked out with the Soviets a few times. They adapted the same work ethic and demeanor of the Soviets in the gym, not wanting to been as “soft." Worked with some of the best coaches in the world, and if the Western athletes were prepared to give 100% and follow commands, they were willing to give all their expertise. Shannon thought she should be able to do everything they asked, and they asked a lot. When Shannon couldn’t do something, she became frustrated to the point of tears; the coaches were very patient
• After the camp, the Soviet coaches frankly recommended recreational gymnastics for most of the athletes, but identified three athletes they thought should be in a program aiming for elite, including Shannon.

 

[irichluck21]

Thank you for doing this! I love reading your summaries.

 

[rlayt]

I also love your summaries!

Is this the book that had a couple of recipes? I remember making Shannon Miller french fries from potatoes. And her mother or Shannon said you might be tempted to skip the oil but don’t because you need to consume some healthy oils.

 

[RedBirdie]

Thank you!

One correction: USGF was USAG's predecessor. USAIGC was a completely separate organization. It used to be common-ish to compete USGF and USAIGC.

@rlayt you're thinking of the book by Shannon, but the name escapes me. Someone gave me a copy way back in the day, I don't remember what happened to it. But I so clearly remember the recipes!

 

[RAFIKI]

This one?

 

[QuietColours]

Thank you!

One correction: USGF was USAG's predecessor. USAIGC was a completely separate organization. It used to be common-ish to compete USGF and USAIGC

Thank you, I corrected it!

 

[RedBirdie]

This one?

Yes, that's the book!

 

[rlayt]

Thank you! I’m always so interested in what the athletes and their influencers have to say.

 

[Passion]

I love this book so much, I’ve read it at least 15 times! I love books that have specific details of what happened behind the scenes at competitions, and moms remember everything.

I think this book was the very first thing I ever posted about on a gymnastics message board back in 2002. I was just generally looking up gymnastics and found a thread on (I think it was called American Gymnast Forum?) talking about Shannon leaving 1994 Worlds and I typed out a passage from the book explaining what happened lol.

 

[rlayt]

I remember that forum.

 

[KathySantoni]

Thank you so much for the summary.

 

[KristyJ]

Thank you for doing these, it's so interesting!

 

[Amber]

Thanks for the summaries! I own this book and read it about a 100 times still I find the summaries interesting

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter Three: Competition Kickoff

• When they returned to OK, the girls were finally old enough to compete
• Jerry had been overwhelmed by the Soviet experience. The Soviets spent all day in the gym, didn’t go to school, were state funded. Jerry worked nights as a nurse at a local hospital to make ends meet—he didn’t have the time or experience to take the girls to the next level. The girls had raw talent but little finesse and no full routines on any event. He wanted them to spend another year training
• Shannon was devastated. Jerry agreed to let her compete, but said he couldn’t be her coach, because he was going to focus on preparing the other girls. Shannon and a friend Lisa moved to another coach at the same gym, but quickly realized they weren’t making progress. It was time to change gyms
• They checked out two gyms and settled on Dynamo. Steve had been on the trip to the Soviet Union to learn coaching techniques, not with any athletes. He knew she was talented and competitive but that she also cried easily, and he didn’t like tears
• Tessa was competing Class III at Jerry’s and was told she had to leave when Shannon did. She moved with Shannon and spent a lot of time waiting for Shannon to finish training so they could go home. Several other gymnasts from Jerry’s gym eventually went to Steve as well.
• Shannon’s first meet was a travel meet. Children weren’t allowed to stay with their parents; Steve wanted parents to not even talk to the girls. The restriction was hard on Claudia but didn’t seem to bother Shannon
• First event was beam—fell on a side aerial. Had trouble on her new double twist on floor in warmups, but got it in competition. Missed her giant on bars. Vault was fine, but she was only dong a half on-half off. She got around a 31, but Steve and Shannon were pleased
• Steve believed in lots of competitions, so Shannon was competing almost every weekend. It was a rough patch for her—it seemed like she’d master a skill on one event and then lose one on another. But Steve kept telling them she was a terrific gymnast and would be an elite.
• Steve signed them up for an international meet in Reno. Parents couldn’t afford to fly with them, but Shannon was fine. Meet went well, but not as well as Steve would have liked. Someone gave Shannon and some other girls a big back of stuffed animals he’d won, which got a conversation about accepting presents from strangers and kicked off a huge collection of stuffed animals
• In the gym, Steve had begun kicking out gymnasts he thought weren’t giving him their full attention. Claudia didn’t realize the extent of this until she went to the gym with a cake for Shannon’s 10th birthday and found 10/11 girls sitting in the lobby. When Steve came out, he was furious to see the ten girls eating cookies and having a great time when they were supposed to be being punished. Claudia felt guilty until she realized that if ten out of eleven girls were kicked out of the gym, the problem was probably the coach. She gave Steve a cookie and told him he needed sweetening. He calmed down quickly—he never stayed angry for long
• Shannon had been competing Class II. Steve said she could be as good as the Class I gymnasts, but she had to focus and stop crying; Shannon decided Steve was right and announced she would win her next meet. After the meet, Shannon marched into the house with a first place trophy and her first 9 on beam.
• At the state meet, all of Steve’s gymnasts were in the 9-11 category. Shannon won, despite a fall on beam in Optionals that would have rattled her a month prior. New skills included a pike tsuk vault and BHS-LO on beam.
• At Regionals she did more new skills (not listed) but missed her dismounts on bars and beam. Steve’s solution was train harder. He was planning a meet in a few weeks and wanted Shannon to add double backs off bars and on floor. Parents had never seen her do them in anything but the pit, but she hit them in competition.
• There was a meet for Class I gymnasts coming up and Steve need a Class II girl to fill out the roster. Shannon fought for and got the spot. Her scores on all events counted for the team. Dynamo finished in the top four and made it to the televised team finals
• Shannon hit bars, but fell on her layout on beam. She dissolved into tears, but came back with the top floor score for the team. She overpowered her piked tsuk, so Steve told her to try a layout as her second vault. That was short, but they both knew now she was ready to move on to a more difficult vault. Dynamo ended up getting bronze
• Steve decided to have Shannon bypass Class I and go elite. They were surprised but trusted him.
• Steve had been using space at Bart Connor’s gym; now he needed his own. He wanted Shannon and some others to train longer hours, at least during the summer. Parents were happy the new gym was 15 minutes closer and helped build offices and get the facility ready.
• Dynamo had its own Halloween meet, the one time Steve was okay with the girls eating candy. Shannon wanted a good costume, and they decided she’d be a bag of groceries—she was small enough a bag fit over her (no sewing!). Shannon didn’t like the idea, but they didn’t have any other ones. She ended up winning the costume competition
• Next meet was in Houston. Steve wanted her to do her new Yurchenko layout on vault, a release on bars, and a double back on floor. But when they got there, they found out she couldn’t do the Yurchenko (what she’d trained all summer) because she wasn’t elite yet. She missed her tkachev on bars (her dad still uses this video in his physics lectures), and had hands down her double back because she didn’t have enough endurance. Steve wasn’t worried because she’d gone for the skills—next time she would make them
• Next meet was one Bela went to in San Antonio, where they had family. Family hadn’t realized how talented Shannon was. Field included Wendy Bruce, Sandy Woolsey, and junior Kim Zmeskal, Tina Snowden, and Erica Stokes. Shannon finished 2nd behind Wendy and made three event finals. Shannon, age 11, was signing autographs
• At the next meet, she watched a more experienced athlete have a bad warm up and great meet, and this changed Shannon’s perspective on bad warm ups
• Shannon and teammate Gina were sent to qualify for the Junior B elite team; both qualified and Shannon finished 2nd
• Went to another Classic meet—won and threw her FTDT at age 11
• With Olympic Trials (1988) coming up, top gymnasts were too busy for international meets, so the Junior B team was invited to Pan Am Games. Only one coach could go for the team, and it wasn’t Steve
• Shannon was having a rough time—she couldn’t take her summer break because of the meet, she was training alone, and her coach and teammates wouldn’t be at the meet. Steve reached out to Kelly Garrison, who was training by herself of University of Oklahoma to prepare for Trials and who Shannon admired, as a role model for Shannon
• Steve agreed to go to Pan Ams with Shannon if the Millers paid half of his expenses—they agreed because they didn’t want Shannon going through Miami airport and changing planes alone
• The meet went well, but the official team coach made her water down (no FTDT, piked tsuk instead of FTY), which frustrated Shannon and enraged Steve
• Next meet was the 1989 US Olympic Sports Festival. Junior As would be televised, since they’d probably make up the 1992 Olympic team
• Shannon kept adding difficulty, Steve kept pushing. He wanted her in the gym more, but she refused to sacrifice school—she was determined to go full time and make straight As. She trained 4-9 M-F and 8-1 Saturdays. If a meet was coming up, she trained Sunday too
• Parents were beginning to feel overwhelmed and like they lived in the car (especially with the other two kids’ activities as well and both working full time). Steve changed Troy’s gym schedule so Shannon and Troy could go at the same time.
• House rule was that there was one dinner and everyone had to try everything. Tessa and Troy would immediately take bites of the things they didn’t like to get it over with; Shannon waited until the last minute
• Shannon didn’t have special house privileges and was good about helping with dinner when she was home. Tessa was an excellent student and Shannon was determined to keep up. She didn’t discuss gymnastics at school, and her teachers and classmates didn’t know how good she was