Sport evolves when records are broken, says gymnastics legend Shannon Miller

With seven Olympic (1992 & 1996) and nine World Championship medals, Shannon Miller is one of the greatest gymnast ever.
Now 42, Miller has added a few more strings to her bow: TV pundit, marathoner, health advocate, and ovarian cancer survivor. The face of this year’s Tata Mumbai Marathon, Miller visited the TOI office on Thursday, fielding a host of questions.
Excerpts from the interaction:
Gymnastics has always had these superstars dominating meets — Olga Korbut, Vera Caslavska, Larissa Latynina, Nadia, Mary Lou Retton, Vitaly Scherbo, and now Simone Biles — what is it about the sport that produces such champions?
When you watch gymnastics over the years and its progression you see that certain athletes stand out and are dominant at certain times.I don’t think there’s been anyone apart from maybe a Vitaly Scherbo who is close to being as dominant as Simone Biles. I mean, she’s just.... I don’t think we’ve ever seen the kind of gap between her performances and the rest of the world, which is just amazing. But what I love about gymnastics is it always changes the score and changes the code of points, which is kind of our rule book, every four years. This skill that was worth a ton last cycle is not really worth that much this cycle. So you always have to learn, you always have to challenge yourself. You have to strategize what’s the best makeup of this routine or that routine. And you also have to continue to find your place on the team.
Now, there are a lot less all-around athletes, you don’t have to compete for all six events, you can be a specialist, which, on the one hand is a great thing because it allows for athletes that maybe aren’t great on one event, but they’re fantastic on the other two or three events.
What is it about Simone that makes her so special?
I think just pure power and the difficulty of her routines. I always try to remind people that the skills that she’s doing, some of them have really never been done before. They are so difficult even coming from someone who has done a good amount of skills. They are so difficult but she makes them look so easy.
You’re behind Biles in the combined tally of Olympic and World Championship medals but as far as Olympic medals she’s going to have to wait till Tokyo at least…
I have a feeling she’s not going to have a problem. I get asked about that all the time but I think like many athletes, we truly feel those records are made to be broken. I mean, what a sad thing if no one ever broke that record. It would mean that we’re not progressing as a sport. It’s nice to be able to look at a career and feel as if you’ve inspired another generation to continue on and to grow the sport. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of.
How good is Dipa Karmakar. 2016 was amazing for her….
She completed the most difficult vault that has ever been performed in gymnastics — the Prudonova. I would never do it. My husband asked me the other day, well, did you try that? Oh, no, no, it’s the vault of death. No, I did not. But she did and she performed it well. So that is incredible. She now has the ability and is already inspiring the next generation of gymnasts here.
You are obviously someone who has gone through some tough times having been a cancer survivor. What helped you stay strong in your quest to recover in such a delicate moment in your life?
It was a couple years after I had finished treatment and had a clean bill of health and all was good and I was playing outside with my son. He took off and I started to run after him and after two or three steps, I just collapsed. My legs just wouldn’t go. They felt like jello. In my heart, I knew I just didn’t have the strength. And that was a big wakeup call for me. I think what helped me through that was just coming back to priorities. I was very fortunate to have made it through my cancer diagnosis, to have a good prognosis.