Shannon Miller remains the most decorated Olympic gymnast in American history. She is the only female athlete to be inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame – Twice — Individual (2006) and Team (2008)!
Shannon has won an astounding 59 International and 49 National competition medals. Over half of these have been gold. She is the only U.S. gymnast to win two World All-Around titles, and she is the first American female to medal in the individual all-around of a non-boycotted Olympics. Her tally of five medals (two silver, three bronze) at the 1992 Olympics was the most medals won by a U.S. athlete in any sport. At the ’96 Games, she led the “Magnificent Seven” to the U.S. Women’s first ever team gold, and for the first time for any American gymnast, she captured gold on the balance beam. She is the first American gymnast to win an individual gold medal at a fully-attended Summer Games and cemented her place as the most accomplished gymnast, male or female, in U.S. Olympic history.
After retiring from Olympic competition, Miller received her undergraduate degrees in marketing and entrepreneurship from the University of Houston and her law degree from Boston College. She then moved from Olympic athlete to advocate for the health and wellness of women and children.
Miller launched her company Shannon Miller Lifestyle: Health and Fitness for Women, along with her series of fitness books, DVDs, and a content-based website in July 2010. With programs, partnerships, and articles, Shannon
seeks to empower women to make their health a priority through education and awareness.
In January 2011, Shannon was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer. She had the baseball size tumor removed successfully and followed up with an aggressive chemotherapy regimen. Shannon is now cancer-free and remains open and public about her diagnosis and treatment.
Involvement with the sport of gymnastics and the Olympic movement remains important to Shannon. This has led to several partnerships with gymnastics-related companies where she developed her own line of leotards with Alpha Factor, trophies and medals with A-1 Awards, and specialized mats and gymnastics equipment with Mancino Mats. Shannon stays on top of what is happening in the sport, participates in various projects, and has provided analysis and commentary for every Olympic Games since she last competed, in 1996. Shannon has worked as an expert commentator or analyst with Yahoo! Sports, MSNBC, NBC and Comcast.
In addition, Shannon continues to travel the country as a motivational speaker, and is also a spokesperson and/or ambassador for a number of companies including TESARO Inc., Washington National, Salto Active, Juice Plus+, and the Joan L. Kidd MD Fight for Life Continuum. Her book, It’s Not About Perfect: Competing for My Country and Fighting for My Life, published by Thomas Dunne Books came out in 2015.
Shannon and her husband, John Falconetti, reside in Jacksonville, Florida with their two children, Rocco (born 2009), and Sterling (born 2013).
