The Magnificent Seven was the 1996 United States Olympic women's gymnastics team that won the first-ever gold medal for the United States in the women's team competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The seven members of the team were Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes, Kerri Strug, Amy Chow, Jaycie Phelps, and team captain Amanda Borden. Miller, Dawes, and Chow also won individual gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively in Atlanta. The team is perhaps best known for Strug sticking the landing of a vault to clinch the gold medal while injured.
The leader of the Magnificent Seven is often said to be Shannon Miller, the second most decorated American gymnast in history and that year's reigning national champion. The other two individual stars on the team were Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu, the previous two national champions (in 1994 and 1995 respectively). However, Kerri Strug eventually qualified for the individual all-around over Moceanu.
The other three members of the team were less heralded. Nevertheless, they were an integral part of the team's success. Amy Chow had the highest difficulty of anyone on the team, most notably on the uneven bars. Jaycie Phelps provided clean lines and solid gymnastics in all four events. The final member to qualify for the team, Amanda Borden, was named team captain.
The highest two scoring athletes on the team during the compulsories did not even perform at the Olympic Trials. Both Miller and Moceanu had been sidelined with injuries but were named to the team anyway, proving that the petition system was in the team's best interest.
In the individual All-Around finals, Dominique Moceanu had a big balance check after her punch front on the balance beam which ultimately knocked her out of contention when she only scored a 9.600. Despite the low score she still managed to finish 9th in the all-around. In stark contrast, Dominique Dawes and Shannon Miller both started out on the uneven bars and after the first two rotations (uneven bars and balance beam) they were in 1st and 2nd place respectively. The excitement, however, proved to be short-lived. Miller came up short on her first tumbling pass on the floor (a double layout), and stepped out of bounds on her last tumbling pass on the floor (a full twisting double back). A score of 9.475 dashed any dreams of a medal for her. Next up was Dawes, and while doing a punch front on the floor she fell out of bounds. She scored a 9.000 and just like that team USA was completely out of the all-around contention. Miller ended up placing 8th, while Dawes placed 17th. World champion Lilia Podkopayeva took the title and the gold, while the three Romanians took revenge for their disappointing team bronze by sweeping the other medals (Gina Gogean won silver, and Simona Amânar and Lavinia Miloşovici tied for bronze).
The Magnificent Seven went on tour after their gold medal performance. Strug, however, elected not to join the other six members and instead headlined a rival tour for considerably higher compensation than the other six.
The entire team appeared on a Wheaties cereal box and on several talk shows. Miller, once again the most successful member of the team following her five medal total in the Barcelona Games, captured the only individual gold for the American women. Her gold medal on the balance beam was a first for an American, followed only by Shawn Johnson at the 2008 games.
In 2008, Magnificent Seven was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in the team category. The team received their award in Chicago with other Olympic greats.
In 2012, viewers were able to vote on some of the greatest Olympic moments in NBC history for a special Top 30 Olympic Moments program to air before the London Olympics. Kerri Strug's vault was one of the clips and ended up receiving the most votes, placing first on the countdown.
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