Amanda Borden was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on Tuesday May 10th 1977. When she grew up she tried different sports, like soccer and T-ball.

In 1984, seven years old, she began gymnastics. In the beginning only one hour, one day a week. But after only one week the coaches moved her up to a higher level of training, now two hours a day, three days a week.

Amanda was now in the Junior Elite Testing program, where they measured physical strength and flexibility, as well as basic gymanstics skills. She qualified for a one week training camp in Tennessee.

At age 10, gymnatics was a big part of her life. Amanda was in the gym twelve hours a week, and loved every minute of it. She began compeeting at compulsory level, and travelled around in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan.

When Amanda turned 13, she moved her training to the Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy, and got a new coach, Mary Lee Tracey. She also made the Junior Olympic Nationals in Colorado Springs.

The next year she decided to compete at the Elite Level. In her first meet in Arizona Amanda fininshed third in the junior age group, and qualified for the USA Championships.

Amanda was now training very hard for that competition, but unfortunately she broke her elbow twelve weeks prior to the competition. But she let it heal and was ready to compete, when she pulled her hamstring with only 6 weeks left. No competition this time...

Now it was time to compete at Senior Elite level. Amanda was 15 years old when she made the USA Championships, and finished fifth. This qualified her for the 1992 Olympic Trials, where she finished fifth too. And the seven best makes it to the Olympic Team.

But Amanda didn't get to go to the Olympics. Instead two gymnasts who were injured during the trials made the team.

This didn't make Amanda quit, so she made it to the World Championships in England 1993 and the World Championships in Australia 1994. She also went to Germany for the World Team Championships, where her team finished second.

1995 began really good. Amanda made it to the final at the American Cup in Seattle, the Pan Am Games in Argentina, and was elected team captain.

The second half of 1995 wasn't so good though. She broke her toe and wasn't able to compete anymore that year. Instead she, once again, let her body heal. She also recieved the USA Gymnastics Sportswoman of the Year Award.

1996 - The year of the Olympics in Atlanta. The year started out good. At the Budget Gymnastics Invitational in Miami Amanda scored really great, with a 9.725 on the bars, 9.775 on the beam, and 9.512 on the floor.

Amanda finally got her well deserved spot on the Olympic team, and went to the Olympics in Atlanta. And, as they say, the rest is history... The US Team, with Amanda as team captain, won GOLD. The team then got the name Magnificent 7.