Shannon Miller: My Child, My Hero by Claudia Miller

[QuietColours]

I gotta say, the general tone of the book (given away by the title) is very heavily "Shannon was innately the best person in our house and we all learned from her moral presence"

 

[Matilda23]

Hopefully Tessa and Shannon have a good relationship now?

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter 11: 1993: Miller Time

• The only injury Shannon still had at the end of 1992 was her back; it was getting worse. Shannon refused another cortisone shot, so they decided to approach the injury through prayer
  • Their practitioner had Shannon focus on the verse from Proverbs, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding" and had Shannon trust God would help her make the right choices and to listen to God's direction, not what she wanted
  • From Science and Health (a Christian Science publication), Shannon studied "Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true and you will bring these into your experience proportionally to their occupancy of your thoughts."
  • Steve was pushing hard, Shannon's body wasn't cooperating, and time was running out to prepare for Worlds
  • Steve rearranged workouts to avoid the moves that most aggravated her back
• A week before the American Cup Steve had realized Shannon didn't have a middle pass that worked under the new code. She needed more series bonus and at least one more C in her routine. He chose a double twisting back layout, which she had done since she was ten but had not worked in five years. He added two whips into it for series bonus points, and then another whip back. When this went well, he added a punch front out of the double full.
• Between American Cup and Worlds, Peggy decided Shannon would attempt a back handspring with ¼ turn to immediate hop half landing in handstand. This would become known as the Miller and it was rated an E
• Claudia watched the practice before they left for Worlds. Shannon had eased off bars and some tumbling on beam, didn't work the DTY much, and had a lot of new tumbling on floor. When Steve had them do full routines, she struggled. Claudia wasn't sure Shannon should go to Worlds with a very sore back and not fully prepared
• Steve told her he was the coach and would make the decisions. Claudia wondered if part of his lack of concern was that Kerri had an international reputation and was looking good on all events–Dynamo would have a good showing even if Shannon didn't do well
• Shannon emerged from the gym looking confident and happy, so Claudia decided she had been failing in her faith
• Worlds
  • Shannon qualified for the AA finals and all event finals and had completed preliminary compulsories in first place on all events. Kerri had been 2perd by Dawes and had made the floor finals
  • Workouts were going well, but her back was hurting more. The trainer traveling with the team told them she needed medicine to reduce the inflammation; Shannon knew Steve was counting on her and was afraid of what he would say if she refused the medicine and performed poorly. She didn't realize that the medicine should be taken with food. It made her nauseous and she didn't know why. She just prayed each time until she felt better; Steve and Peggy knew she wasn't feeling great but just assumed it was her back
  • In the AA, she had a step on the landing on bars, a shaky beam with several steps on her dismount and was in third. Her floor was good enough to move her into 2nd
  • Shannon needed the DTY to have any chance of moving into first, but falling would drop her from the medals. Dawes was in first by less than a tenth, with Gogean just behind Shannon. Steve had her do the FTY instead, for a 9.775 and 9.8.
  • Dawes fell on her second vault. Gogean's floor was good, but Shannon pulled into first by 0.007, the closest Worlds AA title ever
  • Claudia found out via phone call from a friend, who had heard it on the radio
  • Her back was still painful, and she was still nauseous from the medication
  • Steve pulled her from vault finals, between the pain and lack of solid second vault. She won gold on bars
  • On day two of event finals, she finally told Peggy about the nausea. Peggy suggested withdrawing, Steve supported this, but Shannon wanted to compete. She fell twice on beam, and later told her mother it never crossed her mind to water down the routine at any point. Shannon used this routine later in a school presentation on the most embarrassing moment in her life
  • Steve had finally realized the problem with eating and the medication and got a banana. Kathy Johnson, who was commentating, had also figured out the problem and gave Shannon some power bars. Shannon missed her warm up time eating but did feel better
  • Shannon hit a great floor for another gold medal–3 golds at Worlds was a new American record
• Very shortly after arriving home, Shannon told them Steve was worrying about Kerri, because she didn't have any major individual wins. He was afraid she would quit if she didn't take a major title soon, and he was thinking about pulling Shannon out of Nationals to give Kerri a better chance–the Erica situation all over
• Ron and Claudia met with Steve and Peggy. They wanted to know why Shannon had been eating so little the medication made her ill and what their plans were for Nationals.
  • They said the girls had had breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day with a fruit basket in the room they could snack from. They did not know if Shannon had liked the food and had not noticed much of the fruit was exotic fruit Shannon wasn't used to. They promised to watch her diet better in the future
  • Peggy was aghast about the Championships idea and didn't believe Steve would do such a thing. Steve said Shannon had misunderstood–he had been angry because reporters had started questioning him immediately after Shannon left the podium if she'd be able to win National Championships with Dominique and Kerri looking so strong, and in frustration he'd declared he might just have her not compete
  • Shannon remembered things differently, but she trusted Steve and accepted his explanation
• It was May 1993; the girls had no more major meets scheduled until the Olympic Sports Festival in July–Steve had debated it because it was so close to Championships, but it was in San Antonio, where Shannon had a lot of family and she wanted to compete
• In mid-May Kerri and Shannon were invited to compete on an American team against Belarus and Ukraine in LA. Steve accepted, but neither girl was happy. They were still tired and they had two major meets coming up, and they both hurt.
• Less than a week before they were to leave, Claudia walked into the gym and saw Shannon curled up on the floor with Peggy bending over her. Shannon said her back had seized up; she could barely walk and couldn't do anything. She had been working through pain, and her back had responded by seizing up. A trainer arrived and ice and massage fixed the problem for the moment, but he said that it wouldn't improve unless she rested. Steve reluctantly withdrew her from the meet
• Without the meet, Shannon could take an engagement in Atlanta that she had had to pass up. She was excited because Charles Barkley would be there. She wasn't able to talk to him at the function, so Ron suggested if they hurried they might be able to catch him before he left the building. They were able to, and he was very gracious and took some pictures with her
• When Shannon got back, Steve said he wanted her to go to LA even if she didn't compete. Shannon, her parents, and Peggy didn't like the idea–they thought she should stay home, rest, and maybe do mild workouts with Peggy. Steve had Shannon do a bar set; when she made it, he had her do a beam routine. The day before they left for LA, he suggested she compete bars and beam there
• Shannon didn't feel ready to compete, but she trusted Steve. He parents decided to leave the decision up to her and God
• When she got home, they found out he had made her do AA and she had won. She hadn't done a floor routine since World Championships and hadn't tumbled in at least a week
• She started on vault. The team was weak there, so even her 9.8 FTY would give them a good score. He had planned for her to compete bars. He told her to warm up beam. One move hurt, so he took it out and had her do beam–she had plenty of difficulty without it. After three events she was in first place by a good margin. Steve told her to take her 30 second warmup (she had not done floor in the official warm up). He thought she could water down her routine and still get a good score. She had, and she won.
• Next Shannon had driver's ed. After a week of classes, the instructor said she was ready to take the test and she passed, despite having only practiced parallel parking once. She was very pleased with herself and doesn't like Claudia mentioning that shortly after Shannon got her license, she accidentally went the wrong way down a one-way street and didn't notice until other motorists started honking at her.

 

[IratePanda]

Thanks again for the summary!

The book is equal parts hagiography and Christian Science tract, isn't it?

 

[QuietColours]

Little bit, with a good chunk of "Here's why I left my kid alone with her coach when he was in a scary abusive rage." I realized I was playing down the Christian Science aspect a lot early on, and it wasn't an accurate representation of the book because every other page talks about what Bible verses they prayed on to get through this injury.

Which did make me wonder--are Christian Scientists more amiable to physio than they are medication-and-surgery type medicine? Shannon and Claudia don't seem to have any issues with her working with a sports trainer for her injuries, but she balks hard at NSAIDs, cortisone shots (with wording that makes me wonder how many childhood vaccinations she got), the elbow surgery, etc. It would make sense--physical therapy is in many ways a specialized form of exercise

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

I cannot believe how successful Shannon was with so many psychotic people around her.

 

[RAFIKI]

They did not know if Shannon had liked the food and had not noticed much of the fruit was exotic fruit

Kinda curious what “exotic fruit” a Birmingham hotel had in 1993!

Thanks again for these summaries. I’ve read this book but not for ages. It’s so hard not to eye roll/get angry at the healing through prayer stuff.

 

[MaryClare]

Kinda curious what “exotic fruit” a Birmingham hotel had in 1993!

Thanks again for these summaries. I’ve read this book but not for ages. It’s so hard not to eye roll/get angry at the healing through prayer stuff.

Safeway fruit cocktail in syrup, 17p?

 

[QuietColours]

Honestly, for the early 90s Central US, mango probably would have qualified as exoctic

 

[IratePanda]

I've always been skeptical of that fruit basket story. Nunno was probably restricting Shannon's food intake. If she was taking NSAIDs, she would've needed more than an apple or a banana to prevent GI issues.