The thundering cheers were deafening as captain Amanda Borden led her team to their position by the uneven bars.
The royal blue duffle bags on their shoulders were almost as big as the athletes themselves.
Borden offered steadfast leadership.
Jackets by Polo Ralph Lauren. On Dominique M.: Dress by Tory Burch. On Shannon: Sneakers by Reebok. On Dominique D.: Dress by Paloma Wool.
Chow was as solid and consistent as they come.
And the younger athletes, who Miller affectionately refers to as the whippersnappers?
They had so much energy.
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They were the countrys best hope for its first Olympic team gold in womens gymnastics.
They were the Magnificent Seven.
Clean routines on the balance beam and floor exercise widened their lead to roughly 0.9 points.
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Then came the vault.
But Moceanu landed on her backside on both of her attempts.
Strug fell during her first vault too, clearly hurting her ankle in the process.
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But she had one more chance to come through for her team and country.
From the sidelines, her coach Bela Karolyi shouted, you’re free to do it!
I remember watching the competition from my moms living room in California.
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I had just finished my sophomore year of college and decided to take a semester off.
I watched as Strug shook out her foot and bounded down the runway again.
Miraculously, she stuck the landing, briefly saluting the judges before crumbling to the ground.
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But she did it and the Americans won gold.
You couldnt script it any better.
Everyone wanted to celebrate the win with them.
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The Magnificent Seven werent the only women who stole the show that summer.
The Atlanta Games marked a turning point for womens sports and the visibility of women athletes in the US.
Who wouldnt want that?
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And it turned out that Strugdidntneed to perform that second vault and put her body on the line.
It meant Moceanus vault scores were good enough to win.
But Strug never competed again.
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In many ways, they were each a product of their environment and sport.
But who they are and who theyve become is fashioned by more than just the situations they faced.
Its shaped by their response to those experiences, even when they felt like they didnt have much choice.
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Its a full-circle moment.
So this isnt a story about the teenagers who stole our hearts.
The Phenom
When Dominique Moceanu thinks about her Olympic moment, she thinks of the vault.
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That was redemption right there, she tells SELF.
It felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.
No one was in the spotlight in Atlanta more than Moceanu.
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The 14-year-old phenom and 1995 US National Champion had been anointed the nextNadia Comaneci.
Leading up to the Games, she was photographed by Annie Leibovitz forthe cover ofVanity Fairand did Kodak commercials.
I felt the enormity of it all.
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I had my own pressure on myself.
I had pressure from my father.
I had pressure from my coaches.
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Honestly, it was a lot, she says.
But Moceanu could handle the intensity and demands of competition.
That wasnt the problem.
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What made the Olympics even more challenging was Moceanus tibia (a.k.a.
her shin bone)she was competing with a four-inch stress fracture, diagnosed just five weeks earlier.
When youre a kid, you cant speak up for yourself, she says.
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It stunts you socially, Moceanu toldESPNin 2016.
Since stepping away from elite competition, she has been fighting to make gymnastics safer for athletes.
To empower athletes to use their voice.
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It was something I needed to shed off of me, and I needed truth.
Moceanu was one of the first athletes to speak publicly about the inhumane tactics employed in gymnastics.
(SELF was unable to reach the Karolyis for comment.
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They have previously denied these allegations.)
Despite the public fallout, Moceanu set off a spark behind the scenes.
It felt like redemption, again.
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In the time since, gymnastics culture has started to change.
These athletes having a voice is so tremendously important because its their safety.
Its their health and well-being.
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That they can now decide for themselves…. Who doesnt want that?
But more needs to change.
That means taking care of her athletes emotional and physical well-being.
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Building solid fundamental skills rather than rushing young athletes.
Watching for overuse injuries and burnout.
Not viewing puberty as an inevitable setback in athletic progression for girls and instead giving kids time to develop.
And showing gymnasts that she cares.
Her sonVincent, 15, has his eyes on competing in gymnastics at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Its an unorthodox pathway, she says.
Moceanu tells me that, ultimately, shes happy with who she is today.
That makes me feel good that I stood for something in my life.
It shook her confidence.
In response, her mom asked her one question: Did she do the work?
I said, Well, yeah.
I always do the work.
Her mom responded with, I know.
Miller, now 47, thought about her moms words throughout the night: As she entered the arena.
As she walked up to salute the judges.
As she hovered her hands over the beam before beginning her routine.
I just took an extra deep breath and decided to enjoy the moment, she says.
She stuck each combination of jumps, twirls, back handsprings, and layouts.
When she landed her dismount, a smile stretched across her face.
She won the one medal missing from her collectionan individual Olympic gold.
The Olympic frenzy didnt end once the competition was over.
It was a welcome buffer after the Olympics, a long off-ramp from the gold medal high.
But it was also a chance for the athletes to let loose and act like kids.
One time, someone hid Millers costume for the finale.
You do go through this moment of, What do I do with the rest of my life?
I mean, I retired when I was 19.
I didnt know anything else.
I didnt know how to get on a treadmill.
I didnt know how to do an actual workout.
I never lifted weights, she says.
Overnight, it felt like all her support systems disappeared along with her identity.
Miller could feel herself reverting back to her shy, introverted younger self.
I was losing all that confidence that I had built through sport.
I went back to not talking to anyone.
I had to challenge myself just like I would learn a new skill on the beam….
I needed to practice it and then I needed to go for it, she says.
You may completely fail but you might also learn something.
She started saying yes to speaking engagements even though the idea of talking about herself felt weird.
But she realized she wasnt really talking about herself.
To help people realize that they already have this strength within them, I love that, she says.
Now people say, Youre making up for not talking then because you wont stop talking now.
In addition to speaking engagements, Miller knew she wanted to promote womens health.
After graduating from Boston College Law School, she launched acompanyto help women prioritize their wellness.
Instead, she took the first available appointmentand thats when her ob-gyn found a cyst on her ovary.
Doctors removed a baseball-size tumor and Miller underwent chemotherapy; shes now cancer-free.
Its helped her through her cancer diagnosis, treatment, and now life after cancer.
So many survivors reached out to me during that time, she says.
I hope I continue to inspire others to do and be their very best each day.
She was overcome by the enormity of it all.
The expectationsespecially high for someone with the nickname Awesome Dawesome, a nod to her explosive, entertaining gymnastics.
At just 19 years old, she was a veteran on the team.
I just felt the weight of the world on my shoulders, Dawes, now 47, tells SELF.
That evening in Atlanta, she says team captain Borden knelt down beside her and together they prayed.
The funny thing is that they werent really a unified squad until they arrived in Atlanta.
Each athlete trained with their coach at their home gym.
But they knew they were given a unique opportunity.
In that moment, it wasnt just about me hitting my sets for the team, Dawes says.
The level of commitment we make to the sport, thats all you know.
You dont see life not wearing a leotard.
All my friends were my teammates and were in that bubble, she says.
Without gymnastics, who would she be?
Dawes tells me that her fans were also a big part of why she continued to compete.
They sent her thousands of letters asking her to keep going.
I remember sitting down, reading them, and writing people back, she says.
She decided to do it one more time.
A farewell tour for the fans.
Its taken Dawes a little while to reflect on and come to terms with her experience in gymnastics.
She says the environment in her gym wasnt the most compassionate or empathetic.
(SELF reached out to Dawess former coach, who declined to comment for this story.)
We didnt have a choice, Dawes says.
Plus her gymnastics accomplishments provided her with a platform to empower girls and women.
Today, Dawes is standing up for her younger self.
Like Moceanu, Dawes opened her own training center, theDominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy.
(She currently has two locations in Maryland, with a third set to open next year.)
Theres no focus on earning a Division One scholarship or making the Olympics.
Instead, her goal is to double-check that every person who walks through the door knows theyre special.
Then young people feel that safe environment.
They start listening to themselves.
Toward the end of our conversation, I ask Dawes where she keeps her gold medal.
In the junk drawer.
It has an AirTag on it, she says with a slight laugh behind her voice.
She explains that its because it makes it easy to grab when she travels for speaking engagements.
The Future
In April 2024, Dawes found herself glued to the television.
It was more than just a hyped-up rematch of the previous years final.
So Dawes, alongside her husband and kids, couldnt tear her eyes awayeven though it was dinnertime.
Afterward, her daughters told her they wanted to be like those players.
Now these young women are trailblazers, she says.
Theyre not only competing, but theyre dominating, and theyve changed the sport of gymnastics.
Athletes are extending their careers too.
Dawes jokes that, at age 23, she was the grandma of the 2000 gymnastics team.
Many athletes are also prioritizing their health and well-being.
They have a lot more control these days over their training.
They listen to their bodies.
They listen to their minds.
Theyre smart, Dawes says.
Its progress but its still a work in progress.
