Shannon Miller: My Child, My Hero by Claudia Miller

[rlayt]

I love that she remembers Belarus in the final round of optionals when it was really Ukraine. Not a mistake people would likely make today. I'm also still curious to this day about Miller's optional bars score in Atlanta. So interesting to me that Jackie Fie ordered it lowered. I wonder what it would have been otherwise?

I don’t remember why she did that. Did she ever explain it? People can try to explain what they see but it would be great to hear it from her.

 

[makam]

Claudia has the backbone of a wet noodle when it comes to Nunno's dictatorial running of the gym. "No, you can't watch me abuse your daughters!" And I like the low key whining about Kerri taking the glory.

 

[RedBirdie]

Yeah, I noticed the grievance whining, too. "All the attention was on Kerri!" "All the attention was on Kim!" "They made Shannon attend to mandatory post-championship meeting!" And on and on and on.

But never "Steve Nunno was an abusive fucknugget who mentally abused my daughter, overtrained her and forced her to do exhibitions and competitions while injured, and locked us out of the gym for weeks on end so we couldn't observe what was going on."

Like I said earlier, I'd be very interested to know Claudia's take these days. Does she see the abuse? Does she see how she facilitated it? Does she have regrets? Or would she still wave it all away and claim it was worth it (and probably say that today's athletes are too soft and coddled)?

 

[Aeris]

When someone thinks they have no other option to achieve a goal, they will accept any amount of prickly behavior to get there.

 

[rlayt]

i I wonder if Nuno could get away with that shit now? There are parents who would put up with Haney (even praising her) , so why not?

 

[IratePanda]

And Al Fong.

 

[QuietColours]

Geddert was not that long ago

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter Twenty-One: A Sense of Balance

• AA
  • Shannon was beautiful on bars, but her score was disappointing again. As a judge, Claudia knew that after her score was lowered in the team competition she was unlikely to get a higher score now
  • Highest beam score of the night. At the end of the second rotation, Dawes was leading with Shannon in a close second.
  • Both Dawes and Shannon had trouble on floor. Shannon's wrist had been too painful to tumble in workouts. Took a step forward on her DLO and went OOBs on her last pass. She was crushed and cried; Steve wouldn't stand for her doing anything but finishing the meet as strongly as she could. Dominique fell on floor and dropped even lower than Shannon in the standings
  • Shannon had a good first vault and a great second one, moving her into a respectable 8th
  • She was disappointed after the competition. Had a quiet talk about her accomplishments with her that night
• Shannon was concerned she might have to replace Kerri in the vault finals–she would need two vaults from two different families. Her wrist had limited her vaulting, and she'd have to perform the tsuk, which she hadn't worked on since the previous year
• Bombing
  • On Saturday, July 27th the games were interrupted by a bomb in Centennial Olympic Park at 1:19 AM
  • A woman was killed in the blast, and a man had a heart attack soon after. There were rumors of a "suspicious device" in the Georgia Dome, where the gymnastics competitions were held
  • Not too worried about Shannon–the gymnasts were staying at a fraternity house at Emory University several miles away and had tight security. The bomber had chosen the most open and accessible place at the Games
• Miller family moved to stay in the home of friends of the Merritt's–they were out of town and offered the use of their house.
• Vault finals
  • Shannon started to look forward to it after a day of working the tsuks
  • Kerri had officially withdrawn
  • Warm ups went perfectly
  • At the one touch, gymnasts had two vaults; for finals, they usually did one of each. Claudia was surprised when Shannon warmed up the yurchenko arabian twice. She assumed they must get three vaults in the warm up; Shannon later said she assumed the same thing when Steve told her to do the yurchenko twice and had gotten back in line to do the tsuk before an official told her her time was up
  • Steve had her compete the yurchenko first. She had too much power and took a big hop forward
  • Second vault: As she neared the springboard, Shannon realized her steps were off. She had to take off on her bad leg. One of her hands missed the vault and she fell. "I prayed so hard. I felt so confident God was taking care of me. What happened?"
  • Shannon was already in the USAG suite by the time Claudia and Ron got there. Steve came over to them–he needed them to help Shannon forget the vault and focus on beam
  • Started talking in the hallway outside, but everyone who saw them had something supportive to say, which just made Shannon feel worse. They asked for a secluded spot and someone took them to a suite for viewing the basketball arena. They had a long talk about the obstacles she'd overcome, how she'd seized every setback as an opportunity, how she'd put mistakes behind her before, urged her to keep her faith in God. Eventually she stopped crying and started smiling
• Shannon is tough in the classic dictionary definition: Strong but pliant. She will bend without breaking
• Beam Final
  • Tessa and Troy chose to sit in front of where the podium would be, so they could get a good picture when Shannon won a medal
  • Shannon was 4th. Two of the first three gymnasts had fallen, Marinescu and Moceanu
  • The whole crowd seemed silent as she did her press mount. Then someone held, "Cut out the flashes!" Claudia hoped it hadn't distracted Shannon, but knew she usually blocked all that out. She was surprised later when Shannon told her she had heard it. She remembered thinking it was sweet he thought the flashes might bother her, than realizing she might be a bit too relaxed and making a better effort to concentrate on the beam
  • Did a beautiful routine, not competing for a medal but for the joy of the sport
  • Her 9.862 was the highest score so far
  • Podkopayeva hit a good routine with a slight wobble. Olga Teslenko of Ukraine (age 15) came up short and they knew Shannon at least had the bronze. Gogean had a steady routine, but it was less original and difficult than Shannon's and scored under her. Galieva finished the competition with a fall. Shannon had an individual gold medal–it took a minute to sink in
  • It was the first Olympic gold on beam by an American and the first individual gold medal in a non-boycotted Olympics
  • Knew Tessa would be going crazy and Troy would be more sedate. Troy confirmed that when they caught up to them at the USAG suite. "Mom, people will never forget the performance Tessa put on." "Well, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I want to enjoy it."

Epilogue

• Peggy reminded Shannon she still had to do the gala the next day. She was happy to perform again, but not to be doing the Macarena. But when the lights and cameras were on, Shannon found she had fun doing all the dances, including the Macarena
• Shannon decided not to attend the athletic celebration in DC this time. Edmond wanted to do a parade in her honor, and plans had been in the works before her first competition
• They were better prepared this time, but you're never prepared for 15,000 people showing up to get a glimpse of your daughter
• A local car dealership learned Shannon's dream car was a hunter green Camaro and gifted her one. She was too excited to drive home
• The Edmond post office offered "Shannon Miller" cancellations on envelopes right after the Olympics and 78,000 pieces of mail came to get the special mark
• Life has been a whirlwind since 1996. Her wrist gradually improved and she was able to do some professional meets. She's done the tours and become a tight knit group with her teammates.
• Takes classes at U Oklahoma and helps with the women's team when she has time and has her own apartment, but comes home for the night sometimes
• Still trains and competes at the professional level (USA vs the World, World Professional Gymnastics Championships, Women's World Professional Gymnastics Championship, World University Games–first American to ever win the University Games. More recently, she and Amy Chow won first in the 1998 Reeses Gymnastics Cup)
• Continued support of the Children's Miracle Network and Drug Free Youth, Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and other charitable works
• Motivational book, Winning Every Day, was published in 1998, complete with a month-long book tour
• Proud of Shannon for her gymnastics talent, but mostly because she is a really good person who sets goals and sticks to them and considers the feelings of other people and keeps a strong faith in God
• Shannon has taught them the value of perseverance and dedication, the joy of seeing the good in everyone, and the benefits of looking forward

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

Thank you so much for these summaries! Waiting for the next chapter is like waiting for a new episode of your favorite television episode.