A Review of Shannon Miller's World and Olympic Gymnastics Career Highlights (1991-1996)

Even though Shannon Miller competed in international gymnastics up until the year 2000, it's her earliest years that most people remember her for and where she garnered most of her famous successes. Here's a rundown of Shannon's World and Olympic career highlights (and even some of the lowlights):

Shannon competed in her first World Championships in 1991 at Indianapolis. She qualified to all four event finals and was second in the compulsories to Svetlana Boguinskaya of the Soviet Union. Along with the silver that she won in the team competition, she also received a silver medal on uneven bars. This would set the stage for accomplishments in Barcelona.

At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Shannon helped the team win a bronze, their first medal in a non-boycotted Olympics in over 40 years. She went on to win the silver medal in the all-around competition, missing the gold by the smallest margin in Olympic gymnastics history. She also once again qualified to all four event finals and took home even more medals than she'd won at the World's in Indianapolis the year before - a bronze in the uneven bars and floor exercise and a silver on the balance beam.

The 1993 World Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, England finally saw Shannon, the number one ranked female gymnast in the world, winning the gold that had alluded here. She won the all-around, uneven bars, and floor exercise titles. Even though she had qualified to all four event finals again, she opted out of the vault finals due to an illness. This illness would affect her in the balance beam finals, where she suffered 3 falls and took last place.

Trying to over a series of injuries, Shannon became the first American to win back-to-back all around World all-around titles at the Individual World's the next year in Brisbane, Australia. Here she also qualified for 3 event finals -- vault, beam, and floor. She didn't take home any medals in vault or floor, but she did win her first beam title. Later that year, at the Team World Gymnastics Championships, she took her a silver medal along with the rest of the U.S. women's team, due to her participation in the compulsory round.

She continued suffering from an injury at the 1995 World Championships in Sabae, Japan, taking home a bronze in the team competition.

At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA, Shannon was second after compulsories behind Lilia Podkopayeva of the Ukraine. She, along with the rest of the team, captured the gold medal, a first for any U.S. gymnastics team at a World or Olympics. Though she faltered in the all-around and vault finals (in the latter event, she replaced the injured Kerri Strug), she finally took home an Olympic gold medal when she won the beam competition.

For these accomplishments and more, she has been designated for the last 12-15 years as America's most decorated gymnast. And even when that title eventually goes to someone else, Shannon has demonstrated herself as one of the most competitive, hard-working gymnasts this country has seen.