One More Time
1996- Georgia, Atlanta. 7 American gymnasts, one with a heavily bandaged ankle, stand smiling on the top of the podium, singing proudly as their national anthem plays and their GOLD medals shimmer around their necks.
They were the Magnificent 7 and they had just made gymnastics history by becoming the first American women's team to win team gold at an Olympics.
But what happened next?
They thought that they had had enough and went on to live their lives away from gymnastics. But they loved and missed their sport so 5 of those 7 gymnasts are attempting to comeback. They want to be Olympians just one more time. They are Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu and Jaycie Phelps
Amy is now 21. She has proved that she is serious about being on the team that goes to Sydney by winning the Bluewater International and coming 5th at the Pacific Alliance Championships. She is living and training in San Jose, Calif. and is being coached by Mark Young again. Amy was the only one of the 3 1996 Olympians (Amy, Jaycie, Dominique M) who got tested at Bela's Oympic Selection Camp to make the A team after the first camp. Amy has always been intelligent but shy. Now she seems to has lost some of that shyness, at least while she is competing and is performing better than ever. This time around she is something that she has never been before, a crowd favourite.
July 2000:
*Amy came 5th at the US Classic (36.737). For her vaults (Yurchenko double opener) she scored 9.312. On bars she missed her mount and then fell on a hecht from low to high (low bar Stalder sequence, Shaposnikova, pike Jaeger to Pak salto), scoring 8.4. On beam she did a flip-flop, layout, flip-flop; standing pike full; Rulfova; short triple twist dismount and scored 9.275. On floor she scored 9.75, starting with a whip to pike full-in, 2-1/2 pike punch, front through to triple twist (a bit short). She got a big ovation from the crowd for her floor routine.
June 2000:
*Amy plans to compete at the US Classic next month
*Amy her leg vaulting at the Pacific Alliance Champs
Quotes:
*“I would have liked to hit all my routines, but this was just to get everything out. I’m pretty pleased”- on her US Classic performance
*"Chow, looking fit as always, flitted through today's afternoon practice with nary an error. She was best on bars, where her pike Jaeger goes sky-high and shows off flawless form (straight legs, pointed toes, knees together). Most now consider the shy Chow a Sydney shoo-in. Back in the gym for more than two years now, she hasn't lost a step since Atlanta gold."- International Gymnast magazine
DID THEY OR DIDN'T THEY?
Amy made the Olympic team and came 15th
Dominique is now 23 and has spent the last few years among other things, acting, being a student and motivational speaker and doing a bit of commentating. She is living in Silver Spring, Md. She is training with Kelli Hill again. Dominique Dawes is the USA gymnast who has most recently decided to come back. She will be at Bela's next Olympic Selection Camp, to be held 11-12 May. She resisted the urge to join her 4 1996 Olympic team mates in coming back until early May. She started training again only a few months ago. She says that the hardest part of coming back is the commitment and the sacrafices.
July 2000
*Dominique is going to a special camp to petition for the Nationals as she stayed home from the US Classic because she didn't want to miss any more training.
*Kelli Hill says that Dominique is ready to compete on four events.
Quotes:
"I left Thursday morning and we literally decided this at about 10:00 p.m. Wednesday night. I think she's really serious about (making the team). I wasn't always sure, but recently she has come on so strong."- Bundy
*"It was a very tough decision. My intention wasn't making it to Sydney. I wanted to do the sport because I love it."- on choosing to comeback.
*"I would kick myself if I don't at least try."- to make the Sydney Olympics
"It's got to be hard at 23 when you've been on your own. The hardest commitment will be getting up at 6 a.m. for practice."- Kelli Hill
DID THEY OR DIDN'T THEY?
Dominique made the Olympic team but didn't make any finals
Shannon is now 23 and married to a medical student. She is living and training in Edmond, Okla. with Steve Nunno again. Since she retired from gymnastics she has tried figure skating, scuba diving and sky diving. She has an invitation to join Bela's Olympic selection camps whenever she is ready, which she so far hasn't taken up. She will be at the next camp, held May 11-12 though because this will be the gymnasts last chance to get into the A team.
July 2000:
*Shannon is going to a Bela's camp to petition for the Nationals as she couldn't compete at Classics because of her injury
*Shannon hurt her knee training at the Mabee Center arena on the 7th. They originally thought that her injury was a sprain but she had an MRI done today which showed that the injury was actually a hairline fracture of her right tibia. She will be back in the gym in ten days.
Quotes:
*"I know there's life after gymnastics. I figured it out the 1 1/2 years I was off. It's not that I'm scared to be without it. I just don't think I should stop because of age. The only reason I should stop is if I choose not to do it."
*"Every once in a while when I have a rough day, I think, 'I don't know if I can do this'. But I don't ever regret starting it. I don't ever think about not finishing it."
June 2000:
Shannon competed in an Elite Zone meet as a practice for her international re-debut at the Gymnastics Challenge. She warmed up on all four events but competed only vault(9.5) and beam(9.6). She was suffering from sore wrists. On vault she did a layout Yurchenko and a Phelps. On she did beam a punch front mount, flip flop to two layouts combo ending with a high round-off, double back. Practicing on floor, Miller did a double pike but couldn't quite get it around.
DID THEY OR DIDN'T THEY?
Shannon unfortunately didn't make the Olympic team
click here for more on Dominique
Dominique who was only 14 at the last Olympics is now 18. Dominique has had legal trouble (with her parents over her money and how they treat her.) and been through a lot of injuries (knee surgeries, back surgeries, stress fractures and currentily a cyst in her shoulder which she will have drained after the next camp) and coaches since the last Olympics. She is now training with Mary Lee Tracey in Cincinatti and seems very happy there. After going to her first Olympic Selection Camp at former coach, Bela Karolyi's ranch she did not make the A team, but she has recently been re-evauluated and is back in the squad of USA's top gymnasts.
Quotes:
*"The past few years have been tough. But with God's strength it has been a great turnaround, beginning with joining Mary Lee's gym. It took awhile to get back in shape, but eventually I did it."
*"Workouts have been great"
*"When I walked into the arena I turned to Mary Lee and told her it had been a long time, it feels weird"
*"It's exciting because I have trained my butt off"
*"She's been very focused and I couldn't ask for any more as far as her hard work goes at the gym. Her routines have been very consistent. Since we've been here she's been a little shaky. I think it's the feeling of competition again. It's been two years since she competed, but I always believe training pays off so I really hope she is able to pull it together. But it's better here to get the jitters out than at Championships or Trials."- Mary Lee Tracey at Classics
*"It's great to have them in the gym. We all help each other out whether in the gym or outside just getting some laughs. We work well as a team and get along really great." On Alyssa and Morgan
*"I like to think I'm a leader. It's a case of been there, done that. If I can use that to help out my teammates, that's great. I try to encourage them to step up to the plate and try."
*"When I made the Olympic team four years ago I really didn't know what was going on. I was overwhelmed. I just kept saying `Wow, this is the Olympics.'"
*"I'm happy with my career. I've done a lot. To make another Olympics would be icing on the cake."
*"It’s a good start. I’m positive. I wasn’t really that nervous. I’ve been training from January until now to get in shape. I’m looking forward to the next competition.”- on her US Classic performance
*Once a long shot, Moceanu is definitely back in the mix. Looking as fit as her 1998 Goodwill Games-winning days, Moceanu made an impression on those viewing practice. "This is definitely the best she's looked," a non-partisan coach said, while watching her work out. "Maybe the best she's looked ever."
Moceanu's own coach, Mary Lee Tracy, admits her pupil has a lot to prove. "She's SO nervous," Tracy told IG. "She hasn't been out here for a while. This morning we started on beam and there was Marta (Karolyi) looking on and I think it got to Moc -- poor kid. This afternoon was a lot better. I really hope she does well tomorrow. She has been working so hard, and we still have a few more weeks until championships."
Moceanu worked primarily on vault in the afternoon workout, popping effortless Hristikievas and slightly shaky Yurchenko 1-1/2s (after several so-so efforts she was landing them cleanly). Tomorrow's competition will be a true test for the fully fit (though her shoulders are still somewhat sore) and tropically tanned (thanks to post-practice sessions by Tracy's pool)"- International Gymnast magazine
*"I'm impressed with how great her desire still is. She looks at hurdles like it'll make her stronger."- Mary Lee
*"I feel like God gives me the strength to go on."
*"She'll be as much of a contender as anyone else."- Mary Lee on Dominique at the Olympics
*"All I really want to do is represent the US and do well. it would be nice to get an idividual medal, if possible, but... my motivation is different. I think the experience will be different this time because I look at gymnastics differently as an older elite. Making the team in 2000 would mean muck more to me personally than it did in 1996."
*"Getting into shape- physically and mentally- is definitely the hardest part (0f coming back)"
"I had to relearn a lot of things. At first I could barely do anything. It took some time but as soon as I got strong again it all came back."
July 2000:
*Dominique got the loudest cheers at the US Classic
*Dominique came 6th (36.462). She got a 9.287 for her vaults (a Hristikieva and a Yurchenko 1 1/2). On bars she opened with a unique jump, handstand 1/2 to Shaposnikova and her dismount was Pak, 1-1/2, hecht from low to high, 1/2-in, 1/2-out dismount, she scored 9.45. On beam she had a new beam routine but barely managing to stay on after her punch front mount. A few seconds later she fell off, scoring 8.3 (wolf full, tuck double dismount).On floor she opened with a whip through to 2-1/2, pike punch. She did a Latin medly but finished short on her triple twist.
June 2000:
*Unfortunately Dominique didn't get highly rated at Bela's last camp=(
*Dominique
plans to compete at the US Classic next month
DID THEY OR DIDN'T THEY?
Dominique unfortunately didn't make the Olympic team because of a knee inury. Her knee collapsed one day while she was training
Jaycie is now 20 she is not training with Mary Lee Tracey at Cincinnati this time, she is training with Geoff Eaton. She is living in Greenfield, Ind. Jaycie had 3 knee surgeries the year after the Olympics and was told that she could never do gymnastics again, but she recently got permission from her doctor to train again. So in January this year she was back in the gym. because of her knee she cannot train like a normal gymnast so Geoff hired a team of doctors, physical therapists and speed and power-enhancement specialists. Jaycie has been to some of Bela's Olympic Selection Camps but so far she is still on the B team, although she's hoping to be moved up to the A team after Bela's next camp, which will be held May 11-12.
July 2000
*Jaycie came 14th at the US Classic (34.975). She was the first in the arena for the warm up and started on her best event (bars). She did a wrong way and a right way Tkatchev and a double front half dismount but had difficulties in touch-up, scoring 8.825. On beam she mounted with a punch to wolf jump but had a few wobbles through the routine (flip-flop to two layout step-outs, double tuck dismount), scoring 9.125. On floor she started with a tuck full in (wobbly landing), then a whip 1-1/2, 1-1/2, pike punch. She sat down her double pike dismount. Jaycie's second vault was a Yurchenko full which she scored 8.775 for.
Quotes:
*"To hit three of four events after being out so long, it’s a good feeling. I don’t have any doubt that it’s possible” (to make the team)- on her US Classic performance
*"Like Moceanu, Phelps impressed onlookers with her physical condition. (She's regained her 1996 fitness and was warming-up without any tape, or even a knee wrap.) "It's weird," Phelps told IG. "The knee is just not an issue right now. It doesn't hurt at all."
Phelps showed off her new floor routine at this afternoon's workout, her first public floor set since the Games in '96. "Two weeks ago I didn't even have a routine," she reported. "Geza (Pozsar) came in and put this together for me. ... I'm not nervous at all yet. I feel confident. I think I have the experience I need to get through. This is just a warm-up event for me. It just feels really, really good to get back out there again."
Though Phelps isn't totally back in Olympic condition, she has made prodigious progress since her last camp appearance in May. (Phelps missed the June camp with a torn calf muscle, which she says is fully recovered now.) Her main enemy could be time (for example, she mounted floor with a labored tuck full-in -- a spot was needed to get it around -- and she missed her bars dismount -- a double front half -- several times). Sure, she's coming back fast -- but fast enough for Sydney? Only time will tell."- International Gymnast magazine
*"There's a lot of gymnastics left in me."
*"It's like the Rocky IV trainin. It's all futuristic."- Geoff Eaton
*"A lot of
people said we couldn't do it. The whole goal was to give her an opportunity to
make the Olympics."- Geoff Eaton
DID THEY OR DIDN'T THEY?
Jaycie unfortuately didn't make the Olympic team
And the 2 girls that chose to stay in retirement...
Kerri Strug
Kerri has been running marothons and hasn't tumbled or vaulted since the Olympics
Amanda Borden
Amanda and her boyfriend John Macready are working in summer camps. She is living in Arizona
"I would love to (make a comeback) but my body has had enough. I would still love to do gymnastics but I have a lot of other things in my life that are more of a priority than gymnastics right now."
July 2000:
*Amanda was comentating at the US Classic
