Team USA ‘Magnificent Seven’ Gymnasts: Where Are They Now?

As er little one of the 1996 American Olympic triumph, Strug achieved a degree of celeb that surpassed that of her teammates. She appeared on Saturday Evening Reside and The Tonight Present With Jay Leno; rang the opening bell on the New York Inventory Alternate and earned a solo spot in a touring MGM/Ice Capades manufacturing. However she rapidly moved on from public life, touring the world in a semester overseas earlier than incomes a Grasp’s in social psychology from Stanford College in 2002. Following a short instructing stint, Strug settled right into a longtime authorities place within the Workplace of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency, and had two kids together with her husband, Robert Fischer. Although she’d deserted her vaults and ground routines in favor of working marathons, she nonetheless discovered time to show her previous sport by way of clinics—her acquainted diminutive body and high-pitched voice bringing again reminiscences to those that witnessed her memorable Atlanta efficiency.

Dominique Dawes

Together with delivering an electrifying efficiency on the uneven bars, Dominique “Superior Dawesome” Dawes made historical past in ’96 as the primary African American gymnast to win a person Olympic medal, a bronze within the ground train. Within the aftermath, she appeared in a Prince video and landed a job in a Broadway manufacturing of Grease!, earlier than refocusing in time to assert Olympic bronze on the 2000 Sydney Video games. Dawes subsequently served as president of the Girls’s Sports activities Federation, and in 2010 accepted a proposal to co-chair the President’s Council on Health, Sports activities and Diet. Married with 4 kids, Dawes has adopted her early stage and display screen pursuits with varied TV correspondence roles, and sought to groom new generations of expertise by means of the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy in her dwelling state of Maryland.

Amanda Borden

Crushed by her failure to make the 1992 U.S. Olympic crew, Amanda Borden almost walked away from the game earlier than returning to captain the world-famous squad 4 years later. Her legacy safe with a stability beam bounce named in her honor, the Ohio native moved on to broadcasting, and graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State College with a level in elementary training. After instructing for greater than two years, Borden discovered her post-Olympic calling by opening Gold Medal Gymnastics in Tempe, Arizona, with husband Brad Cochran. She has since opened a second coaching heart in Arizona, settled into common gigs as a gymnastics and cheerleading commentator and discovered to navigate life as a busy working mom of three.

Jaycie Phelps

Like her one-time coaching associate Borden, Jaycie Phelps additionally has a gymnastics maneuver named for her—albeit on the vault. And she or he, too, discovered achievement within the discipline of teaching after a collection of knee accidents ended her aggressive profession. After becoming a member of her teammates for his or her induction into the U.S. Olympic Corridor of Fame in 2008, the gymnast returned to her hometown of Greenfield, Indiana, to launch the 25,000-square-foot Jaycie Phelps Athletic Heart. Her contributions to Greenfield have been honored with the naming of a highway in her honor and the declaration of a Jaycie Phelps Day. She is married to fellow gymnastics coach Dave Marus, with whom she has two kids.

Shannon Miller

Coming off a formidable haul of two silvers and three bronze medals on the 1992 Olympics, Shannon Miller added a person gold on the stability beam to her crew gold in Atlanta, and later grew to become the primary feminine athlete to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Corridor of Fame twice. The Oklahoma native went on to launch the Shannon Miller Basis in 2007 to fight childhood weight problems, after which the Shannon Miller Life-style model in 2010, paving the best way for a busy second profession as a motivational speaker, well being advocate, tv analyst and creator. However her biggest post-Olympic problem – and success – got here when she was identified with ovarian most cancers in early 2011. Miller not solely beat again the sickness by way of aggressive chemotherapy therapies, however she was additionally capable of have a second little one with husband John Falconetti in its aftermath.

Amy Chow

The primary Asian American Olympic gymnast, Amy Chow was famend for her willingness to embrace threat on the uneven bars, a daring mindset that led to a person silver on the Atlanta Video games and a pair of strikes named in her honor. The lifelong Californian went on to graduate from Stanford Medical Faculty and pursue a profession as a doctor and surgeon, opening a observe within the Bay space together with her husband, Jason. However she by no means fairly shook her aggressive instincts. Chow joined Dawes as one in all solely two ’96 alumnae on the 2000 U.S. Olympic crew, and when her gymnastics profession ended, she turned to pole vaulting. Chow later took up diving, producing buzz a couple of attainable 2012 Olympic berth, earlier than figuring out she already had her palms full as a physician and mom of two.

Dominique Moceanu

The youngest and tiniest of the Magnificent Seven, 14-year-old Dominique Moceanu fought by way of the lingering ache of a stress fracture to make her mark on the Atlanta Video games. She adopted with a gold medal within the all-around on the 1998 Goodwill Video games, however her post-Olympic days introduced one life-altering occasion after one other. In 1998, Moceanu sought emancipation from her mother and father, and simply earlier than her father died, she discovered that her youthful sister had been given up for adoption. Moceanu spoke out concerning the psychological and bodily abuses prevalent in high-level gymnastics in her 2012 memoir, Off Stability, and whereas she initially felt pushback for coming ahead, her accounts took on new gentle when the crimes of crew physician Larry Nassar surfaced in 2015. By then a married mom of two, she opened Dominique Moceanu Gymnastics Heart in 2017 with an intent to vary the tradition of the game.