As the 2024 Paris Olympics concludes this weekend, its highlight will certainly be the return of the USA women’s gymnastics team to the podium as all-around gold medal champions.
But before the “Golden Girls” of 2024 was the “Magnificent 7” of 1996, the first American team to claim the all-around title at the games, which were held in Atlanta.
The 1996 team comprised seven gymnasts: Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes, Kerri Strug, Amy Chow, Amanda Borden, and Jaycie Phelps. With a total score of 389.225, the American team edged out favorites Russia and Romania by less than a point.
Comparisons between the Golden Girls and Magnificent 7 was the topic of much conversation during the 2024 games because of heroic efforts by its leaders in both eras – Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles and Miller and Strug.
But one largely unknown tidbit was that the Tucker Recreation Center was the secret location of the 1996 team’s training center.
According to the DeKalb History Center Archives, from July 14-31, 1996, the gymnasts “practiced twice a day at the facility, did photo shoots and met with local young gymnasts after winning gold.”
In addition, the center served as the venue for a photo shoot with Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and Time magazines. The team also filmed a Wheaties commercial at the gym, according to an article in the DeKalb Leisure Express published in fall of 1996.
About 50 members of the Tucker Tucks Gymnastic Team and their families were allowed to watch the team practice the day after it clinched the gold all-around medal.
An 8-year old remembers
Amanda Dean of Tucker, at the age of 8, a member of the Tucker Tucks, had a front row seat to the spectacle. She was one of the few who was given the opportunity to watch the team practice in preparation for its historic win. She still has a shirt given to the members of the Tucker Tucks, signed by all the 1996 Olympians.
In particular, she was awed by Miller’s routines on the balance beam, an event that the two-time Olympian won with an almost perfect score of 9.862.
“She just made everything look so easy, and at the time, I was wishing that I could be that good,” Dean said.
In a 2020 You-Tube broadcast, Miller and Borden, who was the team’s captain, reminisced briefly about the experiences they had during training in Tucker.
“I remember sitting there in the gym in Tucker watching you do that beam routine at least 20 times a day for the entire time we were there,” Borden said. “Clearly [you] were an Olympic gold medalist in this event.”
Dean’s mother, Mary Weeks, said she felt privileged to witness history in the making, especially since the Olympians’ presence was a closely guarded secret.
“The excitement of it all being in our little town was amazing,” Weeks said. “I have no idea how they picked us.”
Nancy Miller led the drive
According to the DeKalb History Center Archives, Nancy Miller, then the director of the Tucker Gymnastics Program, was instrumental in bringing the Olympians to Tucker.
She invited the team to the facility several times between 1994 and 1996 and after those trips, the team chose Tucker as its home-away-from-home training center. Kathy Kelly, then the U.S. Gymnastics Program Director, credited Miller with influencing the team’s decision.
“Nancy was such a special person, very accommodating to the national team,” Kelly said in the DeKalb Leisure article. “Being a coach, she knew the complexity of creating the right environment.”
But Miller never saw the fruits of her labors. The 48-year-old died suddenly July 5, 10 days before the Olympians entered the gym for the first time.
Miller’s legacy, according to the Leisure article, “was one of encouragement and pride in the many accomplishments of the gymnastics program at the Tucker center. She always had a smile and many words of encouragement for all the numerous children and adults participating in the center’s various programs.”
