Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven helped pave the way for teams like the Fierce Five and the Final Five.
The Summer Olympic Games in 1996 were held in Atlanta, Georgia. This was the fourth time that they have been held in the United States and they haven’t been held there since then. However, the 2020 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Los Angeles.
This was already a special Olympic game for the United States considering they were the host country. They were not prepared for all of the amazing things that were about to happen.
During these games, the U.S. held the highest medal count with 101 medals, 44 gold, 32 silver, and 25 bronze. This was the first non-boycotted Olympics where the U.S was in the lead with anything. In second place with the most medals was Russia with 63.
During the gymnastics events, there were a lot of big moments for the United States. The 1996 women’s team consisted of Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Kerri Strug, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps, Amy Chow, and Amanda Borden.
The two that shined the most were Shannon Miller and Kerri Strug.
Shannon Miller wasn’t even supposed to go to these games. She had severe tendinitis in her left wrist and a pulled hamstring. This caused her to sit out of the trials, but she later petitioned to be on the team as one of the top gymnasts at nationals. Thank goodness she did.
Miller then won the first gold individual medal for her beam routine. This individual gold was the first that a gymnast had won in non-boycotted Olympic games. She is also the most decorated Olympian to date.
Kerri Strug was a gymnast who received major media attention during these games. She was the last to perform on the vault during the team competition. They were behind Russia by only a few points, so the pressure was on. Unfortunately, during her first run, she hurt her ankle, scoring a 9.162.
With a hurt ankle and a few points behind Russia, Strug’s coach Béla Károlyi said, “Kerri, we need you to go one more time. We need you one more time for the gold. You can do it, you better do it.”
So she did it. She did her last vault run on a hurt ankle and as she landed, she did the unthinkable. She landed on one foot! She scored a 9.712, leading the U.S. to their first team gold medal.
Strugg landing on one foot has become an iconic moment in the gymnastics world. It is something that nobody ever imagined happening.
In the ABC family show Make it or Break it, they recreated this whole scene. It was dramatized for the show, but it was parallel to Strug and was an homage to her and what she did.
This 1996 team set a lot of new standards for U.S gymnastics, breaking records and setting the bar so high that they were not met again until the 2012 London Olympic games and the 2016 Rio Olympic games.
All of the Magnificent Seven gymnasts have been lucky to go to almost every Olympic Games since they won their gold and have watched the new generation of gymnasts. They were watching in Beijing when Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin won a total of nine medals for the USA.
In London, they were present to see Gabby Douglas win a gold individual and to see the Fierce Five win their team gold. Then again to see the Final Five win the gold for the second year in a row, and Simone Biles winning five medals in one year.
The 1996 team has a whole new life now. They are married, have kids, have different jobs and have done so many other things now. However, when it is an Olympic year, they all reunite and cheer on the U.S.A. gymnastics team wherever they go.
This team will always have a special place in the world of gymnastics.
