Family: Mother Claudia, Father Ron, Sister Tessa, Brother Troy, Dogs Hunter and Dusty

Shannon Miller was a world Famous Gymnast. She is the most decorated gymnast male or female and she is in 5 or more Halls of Fame.
Shannon Miller was born Thursday, March 10, 1977 Rolla, Missouri. When she was 4 months old, she went to the doctor for an appointment. The Doctor noticed that her legs were growing inward. She recommended a Professional Physician. So they went and told him about their daughter’s condition. The Physician gave them leg braces. He said that they would have to stay on at for at least a year. So the first time Shannon was trying them she didn’t like them much but finally she came to accept them. So the first time she learned to crawl and when she would sleep they stayed on. The only time that she did not need them was in the bath because they would rust. But when she was 10 months instead of I year old the leg braces came off.
When she became older she told her parents that she and her sister wanted Santa to bring them a trampoline. On Christmas day when Shannon and Tessa opened up their present it was a…trampoline!!!!! No matter how cold it was she and her sister begged and begged their father to put it up and finally they got their wish. When her father finished, regarding her mother’s words, they went out side and bounced on the trampoline the rest of the day. Her parents became worried that they would fall and hurt themselves .Her parent’s later called an instructor to teach them. Two weeks before Shannon learned how to do a front flip.

When she was 5 to 6 years old she began gymnastics with her sister Tessa. Before they began gymnastics they use to do jazz dancing and many other things. When Shannon went to Rome for a summer training camp she became noticed by a gymnast coach Steve Nunno. Shannon used to love doing whatever her sister did. But later her sister decided that she wanted to move onto other things but Shannon enjoyed doing gymnastics so much that she decided to stay. Later in her career she met her teacher Peggy.

Peggy helped Shannon with her floor routine and getting her splits, leaps, and other specialties perfected. Steve however would help her with vault and uneven bars. And they would both help with her beam but usually it would be Steve. She was very talented in Steve and Peggy’s eyes and they knew that she had potential. Steve and Shannon would go on many trips for gymnastic competitions. Once Shannon pulled a hamstring and they didn’t know how serious it was until Shannon and Steve took a trip to a friend who checked out her leg and said she wouldn’t be able to work on it for a little while.

Once her leg healed she was back in the gym doing every thing that she was behind on and soon she was ahead of the game!

Later that season she was working on her uneven bar routine, it was the last time she was working on it that day and she was working on her dismount, Steve had just taken the practice mat out from underneath the bars, Shannon was getting tired and suddenly she fell. It wouldn’t have been very bad but she put her arm out to stop the fall. And the worse thing was that she looked at it, they both looked. Steve took off his coat and wrapped it around her and her arm. Then they went to his car and he drove her to the hospital. There she was taken to a room and waited for her parents, once they came they took x-rays and found that she dislocated her elbow and chipped off a piece of the bone. They said either she can get surgery or put it in a cast for 5 to 6 weeks. Shannon and her mother Claudia had to talk about this. Since they were both Christian Scientists so they believed that God would help Shannon through this so they decided to have her get the surgery. Before the surgery Steve had told her that she was just getting a micro screw for the chip. Once the surgery was over she had to stay in the hospital for a while, every now and then a nurse would come to her room and tell her that she needed her pain medication but she would say “No, I don’t want it” or “I don’t need it”. When she got out of the hospital she immediately went to the gym. She practiced her routines while her arm was in a splint. She practiced her floor routines but only things that can use only 1 arm. And when she practiced her bars she practiced both arms. Finally in 5 weeks her arm healed, instead of 8 weeks. Steve said she made a miraculous recovery. When they had taken the “micro” screw out of her elbow it turned out to be a few inches long. Shannon commented “Some micro screw!!”

Later it was time for a competition. She and a friend from the team shared a room in Barcelona where the competition was held.

The next day was the competition. There were a whole bunch of people. Shannon practiced her routines and warmed up with some splits which were supervised by Peggy. At the competition she got 1st and 3rd place.

Finally she got to go home. A few days later they held a parade in her honor and she sat in the back of a convertible while she smiled and waved to her fans. She went up on stage after being introduced and they presented her with a 1993 red Saturn sports coupe with a brand new silver license plate that said her name and “Olympic Champion” on it. She was thrilled and made getting her license her next goal. Later she went back to school but she missed the first few days because of gym. She and Steve were getting ready for the 1992 Tour of Olympic and World Champion Gymnastics. Now that she has become popular, she is the one to beat now that Kim Zmeskal has retired. She has finally gotten the recognition she has deserved.


Years Later

Despite her inches away from winning the gold, she loved her career and had fun with everything she did. When she was in the Barcelona competition, it helped motivate her