Olympic Trials, often deemed tougher competition than the Olympics themselves, are typically filled with surprises and nail-biting. The drama for the 1996 U.S. women’s gymnastics team race occurred, for the most part, before trials began.
It came down to two days at Boston’s Fleet Center, three weeks before the Opening Ceremony. There, the top seven finishers in all-around competition were in line to make up the Olympic team.
It didn’t turn out to be that simple.
For one, the previous two national champions — Shannon Miller and Dominique Moceanu — came out of the U.