by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
America’s most decorated Olympic gymnast, Shannon Miller, took the spotlight again Monday.
As keynote speaker to the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, Miller shared her story.
Her place in amateur athletics history was founded at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, where she won five medals and stood on the podium more often than any other American that year.
She followed that with World All-Around championships in 1993 and 1994. In 1996 at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Miller was a member of the “Magnificent Seven” women’s gymnastics team, which secured America’s first team gold medal in gymnastics, while Miller earned the first gold medal in the balance beam competition for Team USA.
She said she will never forget walking into the Georgia Dome in front of 40,000 screaming fans for the team competition.
“It was the most magical evening,” said Miller, but her coach quickly brought the experience into perspective.
“He reminded us the Olympics are not about just one event, it’s a two-week competition,” she said.
After the historic early victory, Miller said she struggled with her other events until it came to the finale, the balance beam.
“I went from a gold medal to a rocky patch and then there was just one event left,” she said. “I was terrified. What if I fall? What if I fail? I was wearing the red, white and blue. What if I let everyone down?
“I decided I had 90 seconds left in my Olympic career, so I was going to enjoy it. It was the quickest 90 seconds of my life.”
The moment before Miller’s dismount was the most memorable.
“As I was finishing my program I thought, ‘please God, just let me land on my feet.’ When my feet hit the floor, it was joy and relief. I didn’t think about a medal or what color it might be. I just wanted to live in that moment,” she said.
After the Olympics, Miller made the rounds of the late-night talk shows and then went home to Oklahoma to begin her life without international competition and the responsibilities that came with it. She found it was a challenging transition.
“Nobody tells you what to do after the Olympics. I went back to college and I watched TV. And I ate. And ate. It’s a myth that gymnasts don’t eat a lot. We eat six full meals a day while we’re training.
“I gained four pants sizes on a five-foot frame. I had to do something to feel healthy again,” said Miller.
That “something” turned out to be studying health and nutrition and eventually writing books about the subject aimed at women who wanted to achieve a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
Miller’s post-Olympics career got another boost when she married Jacksonville businessman and Rotary Club of Jacksonville member John Falconetti. They had their first child 11 months ago. Pregnancy kicked Miller’s energy to educate women about healthy living into high gear.
“I had been working on my fitness books for years,” she said. “Suddenly there was an urgency to get them done. I had written one book about abs, but I didn’t know how to have great abs while pregnant, or if I would ever have abs again.”
Miller contacted Nick Furris, who owns Spectrum Films, to have some photographs made for her books and that led to her website, www.shannonmillerlifestyle.com, and a local radio show for women seeking a healthy lifestyle.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity to take my passion and give something back,” said Miller. “Women are usually the primary caregivers. We have to take care of ourselves to be able to take care of others.”
Miller announced that her foundation, which fights childhood obesity, will celebrate the third anniversary of its annual run for kids with a name change and a new format. She said the inaugural event drew 600 participants and more than double that last year.
In April, the third edition will substitute the word “marathon” with “fun run” for the children’s event and a women-only 5K will be added.
“We want the whole family unit involved. That’s how you fight childhood obesity. Five-year-olds don’t do the shopping,” said Miller.
Miller also said the foundation has enrolled more than 2,500 children in a program to begin in January that will promote physical fitness at school and after school. The students, up to 14 years old, will record their progress and earn medals and prizes.
“It’s amazing how fast kids can learn they want to be active,” she said.
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