Team USA ‘Magnificent Seven’ Gymnasts: Where Are They Now?
With regards to pure sports activities drama, few performances can surpass the one delivered by the U.S. girls’s gymnastics crew on the 1996 Summer season Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. After popping out swinging in opposition to their powerhouse Russian and Romanian rivals, the hometown darlings noticed their as soon as insurmountable lead nearly slip away,…
With regards to pure sports activities drama, few performances can surpass the one delivered by the U.S. girls’s gymnastics crew on the 1996 Summer season Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. After popping out swinging in opposition to their powerhouse Russian and Romanian rivals, the hometown darlings noticed their as soon as insurmountable lead nearly slip away, earlier than Kerri Strug famously caught her vault touchdown on an injured ankle to present the Individuals their first team gold in Olympic historical past.
Whereas athletic heroes come and go within the ever-rotating aggressive sports activities panorama, this spirited group clearly left a long-lasting mark on the followers who eagerly adopted their media appearances and group tour within the months that adopted. Most nonetheless recall the lasting picture of a hobbled Strug carried to the medal stand. Here is a have a look at what every one of many aptly named “Magnificent Seven” is thus far.
Kerri Strug
Because the poster baby of the 1996 American Olympic triumph, Strug achieved a stage of superstar that surpassed that of her teammates. She appeared on Saturday Evening Reside and The Tonight Present With Jay Leno; rang the opening bell on the New York Inventory Alternate and earned a solo spot in a touring MGM/Ice Capades manufacturing. However she shortly moved on from public life, touring the world in a semester overseas earlier than incomes a Grasp’s in social psychology from Stanford College in 2002. Following a brief teaching stint, Strug settled right into a longtime authorities place within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency, and had two children along with her husband, Robert Fischer. Though she’d deserted her vaults and flooring routines in favor of running marathons, she nonetheless discovered time to show her outdated sport by way of clinics—her acquainted diminutive body and high-pitched voice bringing again reminiscences to those that witnessed her memorable Atlanta efficiency.
Dominique Dawes
Together with delivering an electrifying efficiency on the uneven bars, Dominique “Superior Dawesome” Dawes made historical past in ’96 as the primary African American gymnast to win a person Olympic medal, a bronze within the flooring train. Within the aftermath, she appeared in a Prince video and landed a job in a Broadway manufacturing of Grease!, earlier than refocusing in time to claim Olympic bronze on the 2000 Sydney Video games. Dawes subsequently served as president of the Girls’s Sports activities Federation, and in 2010 accepted a proposal to co-chair the President’s Council on Health, Sports activities and Vitamin. Married with 4 youngsters, Dawes has adopted her early stage and display pursuits with varied TV correspondence roles, and sought to groom new generations of expertise by the use of the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy in her house state of Maryland.
Amanda Borden
Crushed by her failure to make the 1992 U.S. Olympic crew, Amanda Borden nearly walked away from the game earlier than returning to captain the world-famous squad 4 years later. Her legacy safe with a balance beam jump named in her honor, the Ohio native moved on to broadcasting, and graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State College with a level in elementary training. After instructing for greater than two years, Borden discovered her post-Olympic calling by opening Gold Medal Gymnastics in Tempe, Arizona, with husband Brad Cochran. She has since opened a second coaching heart in Arizona, settled into common gigs as a gymnastics and cheerleading commentator and realized to navigate life as a busy working mom of three.
Jaycie Phelps
Like her one-time coaching companion Borden, Jaycie Phelps additionally has a gymnastics maneuver named for her—albeit on the vault. And she or he, too, discovered achievement within the area of teaching after a collection of knee accidents ended her aggressive profession. After becoming a member of her teammates for his or her induction into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2008, the gymnast returned to her hometown of Greenfield, Indiana, to launch the 25,000-square-foot Jaycie Phelps Athletic Heart. Her contributions to Greenfield have been honored with the naming of a highway in her honor and the declaration of a Jaycie Phelps Day. She is married to fellow gymnastics coach Dave Marus, with whom she has two youngsters.
Shannon Miller
Coming off a formidable haul of two silvers and three bronze medals on the 1992 Olympics, Shannon Miller added a person gold on the stability beam to her crew gold in Atlanta, and later grew to become the first female athlete to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Corridor of Fame twice. The Oklahoma native went on to launch the Shannon Miller Basis in 2007 to fight childhood weight problems, after which the Shannon Miller Way of life model in 2010, paving the best way for a busy second profession as a motivational speaker, well being advocate, tv analyst and creator. However her biggest post-Olympic problem – and success – got here when she was identified with ovarian most cancers in early 2011. Miller not solely beat again the sickness by way of aggressive chemotherapy therapies, however she was additionally in a position to have a second child with husband John Falconetti in its aftermath.
Amy Chow
The first Asian American Olympic gymnast, Amy Chow was famend for her willingness to embrace threat on the uneven bars, a daring mindset that led to a person silver on the Atlanta Video games and a pair of strikes named in her honor. The lifelong Californian went on to graduate from Stanford Medical Faculty and pursue a profession as a doctor and surgeon, opening a practice within the Bay space along with her husband, Jason. However she by no means fairly shook her aggressive instincts. Chow joined Dawes as considered one of solely two ’96 alumnae on the 2000 U.S. Olympic crew, and when her gymnastics profession ended, she turned to pole vaulting. Chow later took up diving, producing buzz a couple of potential 2012 Olympic berth, earlier than figuring out she already had her palms full as a physician and mom of two.
Dominique Moceanu
The youngest and tiniest of the Magnificent Seven, 14-year-old Dominique Moceanu fought by way of the lingering pain of a stress fracture to make her mark on the Atlanta Video games. She adopted with a gold medal within the all-around on the 1998 Goodwill Video games, however her post-Olympic days introduced one life-altering occasion after one other. In 1998, Moceanu sought emancipation from her dad and mom, and simply earlier than her father died, she realized that her youthful sister had been given up for adoption. Moceanu spoke out in regards to the psychological and bodily abuses prevalent in high-level gymnastics in her 2012 memoir, Off Steadiness, and whereas she initially felt pushback for coming ahead, her accounts took on new mild when the crimes of team doctor Larry Nassar surfaced in 2015. By then a married mom of two, she opened Dominique Moceanu Gymnastics Center in 2017 with an intent to alter the tradition of the game.