page_title: Shannon Miller
section_title: 1996
hierarchical_section_title: Shannon Miller / Gymnastics career / 1996
caption_attribution_description: Gold medal from the 1996 Summer Olympics, won by Shannon Miller
context_page_description: Shannon Lee Miller is an American former artistic gymnast. She was the 1993 and 1994 world all-around champion, the 1996 Olympic balance beam champion, the 1995 Pan American Games all-around champion, and a member of the gold medal-winning Magnificent Seven team at the 1996 Olympics.
  As far as Olympic Medalists, Miller is currently the most decorated U.S. gymnast, female, with a total of seven Olympic medals. With a combined total of 16 World Championships and Olympic medals between 1991 and 1996, she is the second most decorated gymnast, male or female, in U.S. history, behind Simone Biles, and the thirteenth most decorated gymnast from any country by her individual Olympic medal count. She was also the most successful American athlete at the 1992 Olympics, winning five medals.
context_section_description: Although struggling with severe tendinitis in her left wrist and a pulled hamstring, Miller won the 1996 National Championships. Once again, though, she was forced to sit out the World Championships in the Olympic year due to injury, and later the Olympic Trials. She was able to petition onto the American team as the top performer at Nationals, and the injury was sufficiently recovered by July to allow her to compete in her second Olympics.
  Miller led the American team, dubbed the Magnificent Seven, to the gold medal, defeating the Russians. Kerri Strug garnered the majority of the media attention after landing her second vault on an injured foot, which forced her to withdraw from the all-around and event finals. But Miller, who was the team's highest scorer, placed second after the team competition behind Lilia Podkopayeva, qualifying her for her second Olympic all-around final.
  In the all-around, Miller was ranked second halfway through the competition. In the end, she placed eighth, but was the highest-ranking American in the competition. She also became the first American to win the balance beam final at the Olympics, as well as the first American woman to win an individual gold medal at a non-boycotted Olympics. She concluded her career with seven Olympic medals.
caption: The gold medal won by Miller at the 1996 Summer Olympics
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