Go to Olympics Section

Go to Sports Section

Shannon Miller Gets Her Gold

ATLANTA (AP) -- Shannon Miller had tried not to dream about feeling an Olympic gold medal being placed around her neck.

``But maybe a couple of times it went through my head,'' she admitted Tuesday, finally wearing the gold for America's first-ever Olympic team title in women's gymnastics.

And when the time came, she couldn't help the tears.

``It's really hard not to cry when the national anthem is playing and you realize what you've done,'' she said. ``It's such a great feeling of pride for your country.''

Miller, 19, came to Atlanta with nine world championship medals and five Olympic medals, although none of her Olympic medals were gold. Her achievements are tops on the U.S. team, but her low-key approach has kept her out of the spotlight.

On Tuesday, the big individual story was Kerri Strug's heroic final vault, which the team thought it needed to seal the win. But Miller's point total was also critical to the American chances.

And that was even though two of her scores were lowered because the head judge considered them too high.

The main judges had given her floor exercise and vault routines a higher score than a backup group known as the control panel. As a result, the head judge came up with a new total by averaging both sets of scores.

``Usually you want to hug someone after a good routine,'' said Steve Nunno, Miller's coach. ``I wanted to punch someone.''

The knocked-down vault score prevented Miller from advancing to the final in that event. The only individual medals she'll chase are the all-around Thursday and the balance beam on Monday.

``I would feel better if I had done better on the floor routine and the vault,'' she said. ``But this way, hopefully, I will be able to redeem myself and do better in all four events'' in the all-around.