Top 40 Shannon Miller Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Doing your best is more important than being the best.”

— Shannon Miller

2. “Everyone gets scared, and everyone falls. The key is to get right back up and try again.”

— Shannon Miller

3. “Goals have to be realistic and flexible.”

— Shannon Miller

4. “Face each day with the expectation of achieving good, rather than the dread of falling short.”

— Shannon Miller

5. “It’s important to have a plan, a big picture. You can deviate from it or change it completely, but it gives you something to work for.”

— Shannon Miller

6. “There is always going to be a reason why you can’t do something; your job is to constantly look for the reasons why you can achieve your dreams.”

— Shannon Miller

7. “Gymnastics is a lot like life. You don’t become an Elite gymnast by bickering and having a negative attitude. You have to be positive to get to that level.”

— Shannon Miller

8. “I got into law school to supplement my business background. I’m not planning to practice law.”

— Shannon Miller

9. “Go into the sport because you have fun doing it, not because of ‘what ifs’ and dreams of gold medals. That way, no matter what happens, you win.”

— Shannon Miller

10. “So if you think being thin is enough to succeed in gymnastics, you’re wrong.”

— Shannon Miller

11. “If you can’t handle all the injuries and scars, choose a less demanding sport.”

— Shannon Miller

12. “Gymnastics is the type of sport where you can’t take something that gives you more energy. Something may be great for the vault, but then you have the bars after it and you have to be more sedate for that.”

— Shannon Miller

13. “I don’t believe that there’s anyone in the world without a competitive bone in their body.”

— Shannon Miller

14. “Everyone has obstacles, and you’re not going to have the right answer or do the right thing every single time.”

— Shannon Miller

15. “It’s amazing to me that they’re cutting physical education programs in the school systems.”

— Shannon Miller

16. “I think it’s really important to look at the big picture instead of just one competition.”

— Shannon Miller

17. “There are parents, siblings, teachers and friends, but counting on them to motivate you isn’t fair. They’ve all got their own lives, and while the may be able to help you out, if you can motivate yourself, then you’re golden.”

— Shannon Miller

18. “In gymnastics, the longest routine you do is a minute and a half, and that’s pretty tough to get through.”

— Shannon Miller

19. “I can now successfully drive a stick. That’s a huge accomplishment.”

— Shannon Miller

20. “I’m coming up on 30. There are other things that I want to pursue outside of just performing.”

— Shannon Miller

21. “I thought about running a marathon a long time ago, but I’m just not a runner.”

— Shannon Miller

22. “When you grow up on camera and in the public eye, you feel you have to put forth this image. I just took that to the extreme and there was a lot of pressure on me.”

— Shannon Miller

23. “At the Olympics, you there to do a job. I feel you should take it seriously. You should be respectful. You are putting on the red-white-and-blue and going out there to perform for your country.”

— Shannon Miller

24. “If you want to take it up a step and aim to become a competitive gymnast, you have to be mentally strong and prepared to take on the workload of going to the gym every day, rain or shine.”

— Shannon Miller

25. “We typically don’t choose our athletes until about a month prior to the Games because anything can happen.”

— Shannon Miller

26. “For the most part I’ll probably do floor exercise and balance beam. Those are the two things that I do.”

— Shannon Miller

27. “I want to bring more gymnastics on television.”

— Shannon Miller

28. “I’m an athlete rep, so I’ll be available if they need me for anything.”

— Shannon Miller

29. “Charles Barkley was a big teddy bear.”

— Shannon Miller

30. “It’s been really good to have a goal and go after it. That feels good.”

— Shannon Miller

31. “There’s not a whole lot of events out there on television, especially in the years between Olympic Games.”

— Shannon Miller

32. “At an Olympics Game, you want to enjoy it, especially if you know it’s going to be your last one.”

— Shannon Miller

33. “In gymnastics, you have to be perfect every step along the way.”

— Shannon Miller

34. “And we realized that it was kind of a starting point for gymnastics, to go professional, and also to just get a lot more of the audiences in the arenas on the off years, in the years that we’re not in the Olympics.”

— Shannon Miller

35. “I don’t think I have the mileage on me to really complain of any injuries yet.”

— Shannon Miller

36. “There’s never going to be a system that is fair to everyone.”

— Shannon Miller

37. “I think that to be a competitive athlete, you have to be goal-oriented.”

— Shannon Miller

38. “Charles Barkley, I used to watch him growing up. Then I met him. He was a big teddy bear.”

— Shannon Miller

39. “Floor exercise, the longest you run is two or three steps. In the vault, it’s not a whole lot more than that.”

— Shannon Miller

40. “The rate of childhood obesity is just ridiculous. Anytime I can get involved with teaching them how to get physical exercise, I want to help in any way possible.”

— Shannon Miller

41. “I will be talking with gymnasts from some of the other countries. I will be getting a feel for what they’re thinking and what they’re doing. It should be a really great meet.”

— Shannon Miller

42. “I’m a competitor. I really enjoyed the race more than just going out and running to run.”

— Shannon Miller

43. “When I go in to compete, whether it’s gymnastics or anything else, I do my own thing. I compete with myself.”

— Shannon Miller

44. “I was always athletic and I could do a lot of things.”

— Shannon Miller

45. “Gymnastics uses every single part of your body, every little tiny muscle that you never even knew.”

— Shannon Miller

46. “I’m used to short distances and short bursts of energy; it was just fastest.”

— Shannon Miller