The most decorated Olympic gymnast in U.S. history who is also a cancer survivor shared what she dubbed her "gold medal mindset" with members of the Arkansas Bar Association Thursday during their 121st annual meeting this week in Hot Springs.
Shannon Miller, now an attorney, delivered the keynote address at Horner Hall in the Hot Springs Convention Center for the meeting, "the state's largest legal gathering of the year," whose theme this year was "Game Changers," a news release said.
Around 600 attorneys and 200 judges from across the state attended the joint meeting, Arkansas Bar Association Executive Director Karen Hutchins said.
Miller is a seven-time Olympic medalist, nine-time World Championship medalist, and the only female athlete to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame twice -- as an individual in 2006 and as a team in 2008.
She has medaled in 59 international competitions and 49 national competitions.
In 1996, she led the U.S. women's gymnastics team, or "Magnificent Seven" as they came to be known, to a U.S. women's first-ever team gold in the sport. She was also the first American gymnast to win gold on the balance beam.
Following Miller's retirement from Olympic competition, she earned undergraduate degrees in marketing and entrepreneurship from the University of Houston. She later earned her law degree from Boston College.
In 2010, she launched her company, Shannon Miller Lifestyle: Health and Fitness for Women, and continues to be an Olympic gymnastics analyst and commentator. She also considers herself to be an advocate for the health and wellness of women and children.
In 2011, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and is now in remission.
After her battle with cancer, she authored the 2015 book, "It's Not About Perfect: Competing for my Country, Fighting for my Life."
"I can close my eyes, and I can still remember walking into the Georgia Dome that summer, 40,000 people screaming," she told the members. "We walked through this blue curtain. It was just this sea of red, white and blue, and you saw flashbulbs going off like the Fourth of July. It was just amazing, with the audience chanting 'U-S-A!', and we just felt this love and support.
"Of course, we also knew we'd better not leave without that gold medal. And by the end of the night, there we stood. The first-ever women's gymnastics team to win Olympic gold for the United States of America. And it was a dream come true for all of us," she said.
Miller also told the story of her battle with cancer, and detailed how law school helped her become more outgoing, as well as making people "see past the gymnast."
She said the key elements of her "gold medal mindset," include daily goal setting, teamwork, a positive attitude and commitment to excellence.
"It's an attitude of just going out and winning the day, no matter what life or work throws at you. It is all about understanding that what you do today, whether it's for your clients, yourself, your family, what you do today matters," she said, and this mindset is necessary to be a "game changer."
"If you really want to be a game changer, you have to start with all of the things that are included with the gold medal mindset. If you want to start, it has to start with you."
Miller elaborated on each aspect of the mindset, starting with goal setting which "is a critical component for achieving what you want. It paves the way for growth. It paves the way for change and improvement, and it helps you close the distance between where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow," she said.
"I find that often, when we have that goal setting, the one thing that is often left out of the conversation is the importance of follow through. We know what we need to do, but it's not enough. We also have to do what we need to do if we want to be successful. So much of any success comes down to a very simple question: did I do the work? The magic happens when we do the work."
Miller stressed the importance of teamwork and the vital role it has played in her sports career and battle with cancer.
"When you have a bad day, your team is there to help you. When you see a fellow teammate going through a tough time, it's your opportunity to reach and to help. We have to trust our team. We have to rely on our team, and we also must contribute to that team if we want to reap the rewards," she said.
Miller said a person's team can include, family, friends, co-workers, coaches and other "people you can depend on."
Though she originally learned about the importance of having a team through gymnastics, she said she lost sight of this after ending her Olympic career at age 19. However, she regained it after her cancer diagnosis in 2011.
During a routine checkup, her doctor found a baseball-sized malignant tumor in her left ovary, Miller said.
"Cancer wasn't on my radar. That morning, in the span of maybe a 15-minute visit, I got the shock of my life."
She said she felt a tremendous "loss of control," and that the mental aspect of her illness was the most difficult part.
She said she had moments when she doubted her ability to continue on, but felt the spirit of team around her from her medical staff, family, friends and neighbors and felt reassured.
"Not only did I have this incredible team surrounding me, but I was also part of that team. So I needed to hold up my end, as well."
She went on to beat the cancer and become a women's health advocate by sharing her story.
Miller said while she recognized the upcoming 23rd anniversary of her Olympics achievements as significant, she considers another milestone to be a far more important: her eight-year anniversary of being cancer free.
"I know that I could not have done either without my team."
The third component in the "gold medal mindset" is having a positive attitude, she said.
"You can never go wrong with a positive attitude. If you're always thinking of the negative, that's probably all you're going to get," she said.
"The fact is that a negative attitude is one of the worst things you can have in any situation. The good news is it's one of the easiest things to fix. The one thing we have absolute complete control of is our attitude."
The final aspect of Miller's philosophy was a commitment to excellence, she said, and encouraged each member of the audience to ask themselves one question: "Am I committed to excellence?"
"I do believe that when we are committed to excellence, we probably make less mistakes and have fewer bad days, and we likely get up faster when we do make that mistake," Miller said.
She recalled one of her coaches telling a reporter that while Miller was not the most talented athlete he coached, she was the hardest working.
"It's not just about working really hard. It's about truly understanding that what we do today, the things you do today matter. It all adds up. It all counts," she said.
"The one thing that distinguishes winners from everyone else, it's not education. It's not background. It's not talent. The one thing that separates winners through everyone else is follow through," she said.
Miller urged those in attendance to put the "gold medal mindset" into daily practice.
"What I hope you'll take away from this afternoon, aside from some fun Olympic stories, is the idea and excitement of knowing that what each of you does today matters. That is how you become the game changer."
Child advocate attorney Amy Freedman, of Texarkana, praised Miller for her address and inquired as to her thoughts and feelings on the events surrounding Larry Nassar's serial child molestation conviction, which rocked the gymnastics world.
Miller said she is not "someone who was affected by Nassar," but that as a mother and advocate for women's and children's health, the news was "shocking" and "devastated" her.
She said that as a figure in the gymnastics world, she felt she had to get involved in the cause somehow and began volunteering for the Monique Burr Foundation for Children in Jacksonville, Fla.
"They are the only evidence-based, comprehensive abuse prevention curriculum for children. I'm a data person, so I love that it's evidence-based. I'm working with them in regards to their athlete safety program, so that's where I've kind of channeled my efforts in regards to that," she said.
"If we can help create knowledgeable athletes, then guess what? In 10 years, these athletes are the coaches. They're the gym owners. They're the ones that are going to be the administrators," she said.
Hutchins said Miller's address was a perfect complement to this year's theme of "Game Changers."
"I think it brought a whole new level," she said. "It was very encouraging, and I thought everyone was very pleased to get to hear her. We are very pleased that she would come to our state and to Hot Springs."
Local on 06/15/2019