Every school the No. 19 Penn State women's gymnastics team battles is unique. This past weekend saw the Nittany Lions battle and come up short against a tough Oklahoma team. However, the Sooners are one of the most distinctive teams you will find because of the admiration of a coach and his world-famous gymnast.

Oklahoma women's gymnastics coach Steve Nunno molded fellow Oklahoma native Shannon Miller.

Miller, who became the most decorated gymnast in the United States by winning more World and Olympic medals than any other gymnast (male or female) in history, captured seven Olympic medals in her career, including two gold in Atlanta (1996), two silver and three bronze medals in Barcelona, Spain (1992), plus a plethora of world championship medals.

"Becoming America's most decorated gymnast was not easy," Nunno said. "We are all proud of her and she is quite a young lady."

Miller, who started gymnastics when she was five years old, met Nunno when she was 9 years old in Moscow, Russia, on a gymnastics tour in 1986.

"It was the first time that the United States was allowed into the Russian gym to train," Miller said. "When I came back to Oklahoma, I was so excited that I just wanted to start competing right away."

The urgency to compete and her increasing skill level took her from the hands of her then-coach Jerry Clavier, to Nunno and Dynamo, a gymnastics club in Miller's hometown of Edmond, Okla.

Miller began training with Nunno, and a few years later, at the age of 13, she had to make the choice of her lifetime.

"I was 13 and basically my parents [Ron and Claudia Miller] weren't going to be able to continue to keep me in gymnastics," Miller said. "It is not a cheap sport. It is really expensive, especially with all of the traveling I was doing not only inside the country, but outside the country. I ended up taking an endorsement at 13 and turning professional basically to help my parents pay for my lessons and all the stuff that goes into being a gymnast."

Turning professional meant Miller could no longer compete at the collegiate level.

After turning professional, she started on a course that would take her through it all.

The dream began in 1991 at the World Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. With Nunno guiding the reins, the U.S. team earned second place and a silver medal and Miller also captured second place on the uneven bars to earn another silver medal.

With the 1992 Summer Olympics on the horizon, Miller could almost feel the presence of the Olympic games, and then bad luck fell upon her. Miller broke her elbow several months prior to the Olympic games.

"I had surgery and they put a screw in to keep the bone together and at that point I was thinking that there was no way [of making the Olympic team]," Miller said.

Miller recovered and made her debut as an Olympian in Barcelona, Spain, alongside Nunno, who was one of the personal coaches in the Olympics.

"It is kind of amazing," said Claudia Miller, Shannon's mother. "When she made the first Olympic team in 1992, to just sit there and think, 'Oh my gosh, I am going to be watching my child compete in the Olympics,' it is pretty amazing."

Miller took the gymnastics world by storm by earning two silver medals in the all-around and balance beam, and three bronze medals in the team, uneven bars, and the floor exercise. She was the first American ever to qualify for all four event finals at the World Championships and then at the Olympics.

Three days after the close of the 1992 Olympics, Miller was back in the gym training for more than 40 hours a week, 6-7 hours a day, six days a week.

Miller's hard work in the gym would pay off yet again as she became the only American in history to win two consecutive World Championship all-around titles in 1993 and 1994. This led to her qualifying for the 1996 Olympic team that would prove to be a special group of young gymnasts.

The "Magnificent 7," as they would be called, comprised Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps, Kerri Strug and Miller. They captured the hearts of the world by winning the first-ever Olympic team gold medal.

"It was just incredible, it was one of those times in your life when you just know that there is never going to be another time like that," Miller said. "Not only were we all really good friends, we knew each other really well and we were all able to make it just happen on that one day, at that one time, all at the same time and that was just kind of an amazing thing."

Miller said that the Olympics is a roller-coaster ride for her.

After finishing with a team gold, she did not do as well as she would have liked in the all-around and suffered a fall on the vault finals.

"To come back at the end and win a gold on beam was kind of a redemption for me because it was my last Olympic routine," Miller said. "So it was really good to end on such a high note."

Miller's success comes from Nunno, who she credited for highly motivating her.

"Not only was he a great coach, he really taught me how to enjoy the sport," Miller said.

Miller, who is currently 25 and will graduate in May from the University of Houston, where she transferred from Oklahoma to Houston to be with her husband, Chris Phillips. She is moving on to law school in Massachusetts and is finished seriously competing in gymnastics, but she still trains and is involved in conducting beam clinics across the United States.

While Miller and Nunno will continue to be associated with Oklahoma pride, the Penn State women's gymnastics team will await another unique encounter from an opposing team in the future to come.