Balancing act

Clad in jeans and a plum-colored sweater, lugging a loaded bookbag through the Boston College Law School library, she looks like any other student. It's safe to say, though, that most other first-year law students are not in possession of seven Olympic medals. The only clue to her past as an Olympic gymnast may be her pixielike bearing. "Everyone's so busy doing their own thing and we're all kind of thrown into this together and we all have the same types of stresses. So it's really not about, `Oh, she's a gymnast.' It's just I'm another student," said Shannon Miller, the most decorated gymnast in US history, of her first year at BC Law School.

Miller, 26, a member of the Magnificent Seven, the US women's gold-medal gymnastics team of the 1996 Olympics, juggles a schedule typical for many law students -- family, work, classes, studying. But her balancing act also includes weekly plane trips to broadcast gymnastics tournaments, or to conduct gymnastics clinics, or to do promotional events for the sport.

"I won't lie. It's a crazy schedule," said Miller, with a laugh. "I'm not used to studying this much. I'll be gone every weekend until at least the middle of March. I find it tough when I don't have that hectic of a schedule because I don't really know what to do with myself.

"I'm used to a lot of things happening. I'm used to having every hour, every second of my day planned out, even if it's a planned break or rest, everything is planned out. So I'm actually happier when I'm busy and because that way I know I'm always moving forward."

Miller, who has two golds in her medal collection, lives west of Boston with her husband, Chris Phillips, and their two dogs, Gracie, a rottweiler, and Sam, a golden retriever/Labrador mix.

Miller chose BC when her husband, whom she met while she was an undergrad at the University of Oklahoma and he was a medical student there, began an ophthalmology fellowship with Boston University.

"He had the fellowship and I was thinking of law school," Miller said. "We tried to think of a city that would be good for both of us and Boston was at the top of both our lists."

It was also a city that held many fond memories for her. The 1996 Olympic Trials were held at the FleetCenter and it was a stop on the post-Olympic tour for the gymnastics team.

"During our opening number, we had to sit in the middle of the floor in the dark looking straight up and all we could see was the big Dunkin' Donuts sign right above us," Miller said. "It's one of those silly things that sticks in your head. I think because my mom and I really like doughnuts."

Although she has eliminated several areas of specialty -- criminal law and torts -- Miller has not decided which area of law appeals to her most. Or if it will be law at all.

"I'm still pondering it," she said. "I'm trying to experience a little bit of everything and I figure if you throw enough stuff on the wall, something's going to stick. Something is going to become the thing in life that you're most passionate about.

"So I'm starting to do a lot of broadcasting. I have law school. I also want to get my MBA, maybe own a business, or a law firm, or just be a lawyer. I'm real interested in giving back to my community. I haven't ruled out politics, I don't really know at this point if I would like it or if I would be any good at it, but I want to gain the knowledge now so that if I ever can be helpful in the community, it's there."

With seven Olympic medals by the age of 19 and numerous other honors -- a five-time Sullivan Award nominee as the nation's top amateur athlete, induction into the US Gymnastics Hall of Fame, the 1994 Dial Award for high school student-athletes -- Miller is at an age when most people are just beginning their careers. She's already retired from one and is just beginning another.

"I'm getting real close to 30. I feel like, yeah, I accomplished so much by the time I was 19 and I haven't done much in the last few years," she said, only half joking. "So in some ways I feel like I've kind of slowed down, which is a little bit scary for me. It's exciting but at the same time when you set the bar that high and you go, I know how it felt winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games. How do you top that in just a regular job?

"You have to realize what's going to make you happy for the long run and what your life goals are."

Although she hasn't figured out exactly what those goals are yet, they include returning to her roots in Edmond, Okla. It's important for her to repay the community that helped her succeed in her first career, including raising $35,000 so her parents, brother, and sister could attend the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The town also named a street and a park after Miller -- the park is home to a statue of her likeness -- and sponsored parades after her Olympic appearances in 1992 and '96.

Miller is not afraid of the role model mantle.

"If you're out there and kids are watching you, it's my personal belief that it doesn't really matter if you want to be a role model or not," she said. "It's part of it. It goes along with being on television and being in the public eye. You're automatically a role model. My parents have ingrained in me that this comes with the territory and the choices you make are going to be seen by a lot of little girls, so you need to be extra careful about the decisions you make, not only for your own health and safety and good morals but also for those girls as well."

Miller has also experienced the troubling side of being in the public eye. In 1998, a Connecticut man was convicted of stalking her. She requested then that he receive counseling and not jail time. (She requests now that his name not be used. "I don't want him to have to go through it again.")

"I was a little nervous about moving up here because it's a lot closer to where he lives," she said. "It wasn't a situation where we wanted him to go to jail. We didn't think that was a solution. He needed help, that's what we pushed for. So I hope he got the help that he needed. It's not something that his life needed to be ruined over. At the same time, we needed to be safe. It was a bad situation all around and we're just very happy that it's over."

Miller signs all autograph requests with a "dare to dream" flourish above her name.

"One thing that my parents instilled in me at a very young age is that anything is possible," she said. "But you have to set that goal and then you have to work to achieve it. You can't just sit back and watch other people work. I want kids to understand -- and adults, too -- that their dreams aren't silly as long as it's your dream. But you have to try. You might not always make it, but you have to try."