The golden tots captured American hearts and gold medals at Atlanta 96. Worryingly … they’re back again
Duncan Mackay
To many people they epitomised the Olympics four years ago. It was impossible to be in Atlanta and fail to be struck by the huge publicity that surrounded the American women’s gymnastics team who won the Olympic gold for the first time.
Every time you turned on the TV they seemed to be on it. They dominated the front of every United States newspaper for weeks on end. Their picture smiled down on you from billboards on every street corner.
The “magnificent seven” – as they were inevitably nicknamed -were so popular that after the games, when they embarked upon a nationwide demonstration tour, they sold out venues quicker than Celine Dion. Whenever they appeared on television ratings soared. They became teenage millionaires.
Most of them retired after the frenzy of their Atlanta success slightly subsided, and they have been back to school – reappearing only to do the occasional show – and living normal lives. The one reminder of how they had once grabbed a nation’s attention would come when a television crew occasionally showed up for a “where are they now” interview.
Shannon Miller continued classes at the University of Oklahoma and met Doctor Chris Phillips, her future husband. Amy Chow went to Stanford, where she is studying biology. Jaycie Phelps finished high school and moved to a college in Arizona. Dominique Moceanu continued competing – becoming the first non-Russian woman to win the overall title at the 1998 Goodwill Games – until her career went badly off track after she accused her father of abusing her and stealing her money. Dominique Dawes went to university in Maryland and set up a motivational speaking business.
Except for Moceanu, this year’s Sydney Games were not really in their plans, but one by one, something has drawn them back to competing. “I guess I miss the challenge of doing new skills and doing new things,” was Chow’s explanation. “I guess I was bored without gymnastics.”
Miller was out of the gym so long even the simplest skills were tough when she went back. Moceanu grew so much she had to relearn almost everything that once came so naturally. Phelps had surgery on her left knee so many times doctors were not sure if she would be able to compete again. Dawes discovered her old tricks were not so easy anymore.
Yet here they are, five members of the magnificent seven back in the saddle and riding towards Sydney. The only ones who have resisted the urge to try on their leotards again and return to the gym are Kerri Strug and Amanda Borden. They have been content to rest on their Atlanta laurels and to concentrate on their education, resisting the call of Sydney.
It was Strug who provided the Kodak moment in Atlanta. After she completed a vault to seal the gold medal and collapsed with a badly sprained ankle, coach Bela Karolyi carried her to the medal podium.
The last occasion on which all seven were together was last June when they attended Miller’s wedding. It meant that the wedding party had a combined total of 18 Olympic medals, including Miller’s seven.
“We all love this sport and have been out of it,” Phelps said. “Just being able to go back in the gym is what we wanted to do. Obviously, we want to help the sport as much as we can.”
Whether they make the squad or not, they have already done that. Four years after the magnificent seven mesmerised America, Miller, Moceanu, Chow, Dawes and Phelps have brought their sport back in the spotlight. Their names and the memory of them on that medals podium have been enough to draw huge interest back to a sport that has faltered since 1996.
The US team have been in free fall, going from gold medallists in Atlanta to sixth place at last year’s world championships. “There’s going to be a beautiful rivalry, a beautiful challenge out on the floor,” said Karolyi. “Plus, it’s so colourful to see Shannon Miller, Amy Chow, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps, and Dominique Dawes competing against their fiery young rivals. It’s spectacular.”
Their returns have also changed the way in which people look at gymnasts. The role models on the US team are no longer young schoolgirls but mature college graduates. More significantly, they are also bigger.
Moceanu has grown since Atlanta from a 1,62m pixie to a 1,86m giant (in gymnastic terms anyway). “When we came here for a press conference in Houston we were all lined up, and I noticed I was the tallest one,” she said. “That’s really different than in 1996.
“For any athlete, just a couple of inches can throw you off. You have to relearn everything. When I was little, I used to flip around really fast like it was the most natural thing in the world. Now I have to make it more technical. But growing and maturing has made my performance better. I now have to find moves that fit my body. I am happier for that.”
Through his development of 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci, the Romanian-born Karolyi was blamed for turning gymnastics from a women’s sport into a young girls’ one where they were encouraged to look like tiny dolls. This inevitably led to gymnasts desperately trying to ward off puberty and many suffered serious eating disorders, which, on at least one occasion, proved to be fatal.
Karolyi has long been associated with the young, tiny gymnasts. He not only coached Comaneci, but also America’s 1984 Olympic champion Mary Lou Retton and Moceanu, whom he discovered when she was 10.
Karolyi claims he is delighted to see the magnificent seven back older and bigger than they were four years ago. “I am very, very pleased to see that because you see the more mature athletes, ones capable of expressing themselves on the floor,” he said.
“The sport has changed in many, many ways. The tiny pixies who were once running around on the floor have been swapped for more mature, more balanced, all-round better athletes. This is a plus for the sport, no doubt about it.”