SELF Magazine

Thrilled to share SELF Magazine's July 2024 cover, featuring three iconic American gymnasts who I, like so many women my age, remember watching in real time on TV during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. I was curious about the women they've become, and what they think about that time in their lives now. The fantastic Christine Yu talked them to find out. https://lnkd.in/d_6rzTnj

When I got the email asking, "Would you like to work on a cover story about the 1996 U.S. Women's Olympic gymanstics team, aka The Magnificent Seven," I couldn't say yes fast enough. These women are nothing short of iconic—for what they endured and achieved almost 30 years ago, and for what’ve accomplished since. They helped open a gateway to a world of possibilities for girls and women in sport and they’ve continued to use their voice to make that world better. It was such an honor to interview Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, and Dominique Moceanu for SELF Magazine. Thank you Rachel Miller and Alisa Hrustic for making this happen. #olympics https://lnkd.in/e9hsiXkF

Right before entering the Georgia Dome for the 1996 team final, Dominique Dawes had what she describes as “an emotional breakdown.” She was overcome by the enormity of it all. The centennial Olympics. The hometown crowd. At just 19 years old, she was a veteran on the team. “I just felt the weight of the world on my shoulders,” Dawes, now 47, tells Christine Yu and SELF Magazine. It’s taken Dawes a little while to reflect on and come to terms with her experience in gymnastics. No matter how hard Dawes worked, she says she never felt like she was good enough—even if she won. She was taught to strive for perfection, to train through pain and sickness, to be a people pleaser. It bred a persistent sense of anxiety, made worse by the fact that she had moved in with her coach part-time at age 10, and then fully at 14, because the twice-a-day drive from Dawes’s home was too far. Today, Dawes is standing up for her younger self. She opened her own training center, the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy, where there is no focus on earning a Division One scholarship or making the Olympics. Her goal is to make sure that everyone knows they’re special. “If I can give young people that compassionate and kind environment that maybe they otherwise don’t have, that’s where I feel like I’m making the greatest difference in this world,” Dawes says. And that gold medal of hers? She keeps it in a junk drawer with an AirTag on it. What matters to her is that her four children are happy and healthy, and that the kids who come to her gyms know they are enough. To read our full interview with Dawes, tap here: https://lnkd.in/eN4KkXKK

When Shannon Miller reflects on the 1996 Olympics, she takes us back to the night of the balance beam event finals. Miller’s time at the Atlanta Games had its share of ups and downs, especially compared to the success she experienced four years prior. It shook her confidence. So she did what lots of 19-year-olds do when they feel anxious and homesick: She vented to her mom. All she wanted was to do her best—and stay on the beam—but she was afraid she was going to let everyone down. Her mom asked her one question: Did she do the work? “I said, ‘Well, yeah. I always do the work. I don’t always get it right, but I always try really hard to do the work,’” Miller tells Christine Yu and SELF Magazine. Her mom responded with, “I know.” Miller thought about her mom’s words throughout the night “I just took an extra deep breath and decided to enjoy the moment.” When she landed her dismount, a smile stretched across her face. She won the medal missing from her collection—an individual Olympic gold. But all good things come to an end. As many athletes know, the transition away from sports can be disorienting. “You do go through this moment of, ‘What do I do with the rest of my life?’” Overnight, it felt like all her support systems disappeared along with her identity. She went from training 40-plus hours a week to being a normal college student. It was when she started saying yes to speaking engagements that Miller regained her confidence. Miller knew she wanted to promote women’s health. So, after graduating from Boston College Law School, she launched a company to help women prioritize their wellness. To follow more of Miller’s story—including her journey with ovarian cancer—tap here: https://lnkd.in/eN4KkXKK

When it came to the 1996 Olympic Games, no one was in the spotlight more than U.S. gymnast Dominique Moceanu. The 14-year-old phenom and 1995 US National Champion had been anointed the next Nadia Comăneci. Leading up to the Atlanta Games, she was photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the cover of “Vanity Fair” and did Kodak commercials. Cameras followed her every time she stepped onto the podium, where everyone—gymnastics commentators, coaches, fans, the media—expected her to rack up the medals. “I felt the enormity of it all. I had my own pressure on myself. I had pressure from my father. I had pressure from my coaches. Honestly, it was a lot,” she tells Christine Yu SELF Magazine. The thing is, Moceanu loved her sport, but she didn’t love the toxic culture she said was perpetuated by the adults in charge—and she was one of the first athletes to speak publicly about the inhumane tactics employed in gymnastics. Since stepping away from elite competition, she has been fighting to make gymnastics safer for athletes. But more needs to change. She wants to prove that you can train elite gymnasts while prioritizing health, safety, and joy, and she’s developing a new model at The Dominique Moceanu Gymnastics Center in Medina, Ohio, which she opened in 2018. “These athletes having a voice is so tremendously important because it’s their safety. It’s their health and well-being. That they can now decide for themselves…. Who doesn’t want that?” Moceanu shares. Tap here to read our full interview with the youngest member of the Magnificent Seven: https://lnkd.in/eN4KkXKK

Today SELF Magazine is thrilled to introduce our three July 2024 cover stars: Dominique Moceanu, Shannon Miller, and Dominique Dawes. Whether you were old enough to watch the 1996 Olympics in real time or have just seen the grainy clips on YouTube, you’ve likely heard the lore of the Magnificent Seven. Amanda Borden, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Kerri Strug, Amy Chow, and Jaycie Phelps were touted as the best American women’s gymnastics team ever assembled. And on July 23, 1996, when those seven teenage gymnasts in red, white, and blue leotards and matching white scrunchies marched into the Georgia Dome for the women’s gymnastics team final, the crowd of more than 30,000 spectators knew it as they roared. Recently, SELF Magazine brought Moceanu, Miller, and Dawes together to reflect on their gold-medal moment and the years since. They are legends and avatars: the youngest US gymnast to win Olympic gold, the most decorated US gymnast in Olympic history alongside Simone Biles, and the first Black woman to win an individual gymnastics Olympic medal, respectively. At the link in bio, you’ll find the story, written by sports journalist Christine Yu, about the women they’ve become—entrepreneurs, coaches, and advocates—the choices they’ve made, and their reflections on that iconic moment in the Georgia Dome. But most importantly, you’ll find a story about finding their voice and their hopes for the next generation of girls. Tap to read the full cover profile: https://lnkd.in/eN4KkXKK

Introducing @selfmagazine’s October cover star, the stunning Suni Lee (@sunisalee). The 20-year-old St. Paul, Minnesota, native has emerged as one of the best gymnasts on the planet and catapulted to stardom after she won the all-around gold medal, helped lead the US to a team silver, and picked up a bronze on the uneven bars at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. As an elite athlete, Lee’s body is her instrument. There’s an intimacy and awareness borne from years spent testing her limits and becoming extremely familiar with every nook and cranny, every strength and weakness. So when Lee woke up with swollen ankles in February 2023, she didn’t think anything of it at first. She is a highly competitive gymnast. Of course her ankles swell from time to time. But the next morning, everything was swollen—her face, hands, and legs. It was as if she’d gained several pounds overnight. “This cannot be normal,” she thought. About a month after she woke up with a body that didn’t feel like her own, her doctors shut her down from training and competing due to a “non-gymnastics health-related issue” involving her kidneys. In an exclusive interview with sports journalist Christine Yu (@cyu888), Lee talks for the first time about the symptoms that led to her diagnosis, her path to the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the pressure to live up to her past self. Tap the link to read the full story.