Phoebe Mills
Encyclopedia
Phoebe Mills is an American attorney and athlete who has been active in the sports of artistic gymnastics
, diving
, speed skating
, and snowboarding
.
, the 1994 Winter Olympics
, and the 1998 Winter Olympics
, and her sister Jessica Mills
won the 1989 World Junior Figure Skating Championships
.
She is a 2004 graduate of Vermont Law School
, with a degree in environmental law.
Currently she owns her own small environmental law firm near Londonderry, Vermont
.(2008)
and Béla Károlyi
in Houston
, Texas
. She attended her first U.S. Nationals in 1984, finishing eighth in the junior division. While Mills was sometimes overshadowed in the media by her teammate Kristie Phillips
, she developed a reputation as a steady, consistent competitor in national and international meets, placing third at the 1985 City of Popes competition and second at the 1986 U.S. Olympic Festival and U.S. Nationals (junior division). In 1987 she attended her first and only World Gymnastics Championships
as a member of the sixth-place American team.
1988 was Mills' breakout year. She won every meet she entered, including the U.S. Nationals, the American Cup, the Mardi Gras Invitational and the International Mixed Pairs, was named the United States Olympic Committee's Gymnast of the Year and was nominated for the prestigious James E. Sullivan Award
. She also placed first at the U.S. Olympic Trials, easily earning a spot on the American squad for the 1988 Olympics
in Seoul
.
Mills emerged as the U.S. team's most successful gymnast at the Olympics. While she finished a modest fifteenth place in the all-around, she also qualified for three event finals, more than any other member of the team. She performed a solid, artistic routine to win a bronze medal on the balance beam, behind Daniela Silivaş
and Elena Shushunova. With her third-place finish, Mills became the first American female gymnast to win a medal in a fully attended Olympics, and the only American gymnast, male or female, to medal in Seoul.
Mills continued to compete in early 1989, but retired later that year. She has occasionally returned to the sport as a coach. In 2000, Mills was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
, specializing in the 10-meter platform event. She excelled in the sport enough to join the diving team at the University of Miami
in Florida
, where she won the Big East Conference for three years. She also competed in national diving events, participating in the 1993 Olympic Festival and the U.S. Diving Championships. Mills retired from diving after graduation.
. She has acted as a snowboarding coach and instructor, working with the U.S. junior national team. Mills currently serves as the Vice President of USASA, the United States of America Snowboarding Association.
Artistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus, with less time for vaulting . The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique , which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of international elite...
, diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
, speed skating
Speed skating
Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...
, and snowboarding
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
.
Personal life
Mills is Jewish. Before becoming a gymnast, Mills was a record-holding competitive speed skater. Her brother, Nathaniel Mills, competed in speed skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics1992 Winter Olympics
The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Olympics to be held the same year as the Summer Olympics, and the first where the Winter Paralympics...
, the 1994 Winter Olympics
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
, and the 1998 Winter Olympics
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...
, and her sister Jessica Mills
Jessica Mills
Jessica Mills is a former American figure skater. She won the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in 1989. She is the sister of Olympic gymnast Phoebe Mills. -Results:-References:...
won the 1989 World Junior Figure Skating Championships
World Junior Figure Skating Championships
The World Junior Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which younger figure skaters compete for the title of World Junior Champion...
.
She is a 2004 graduate of Vermont Law School
Vermont Law School
Vermont Law School is a private, American Bar Association accredited law school located in South Royalton, Vermont . The Law School has one of the United States' leading programs in environmental law, and the Law School is currently ranked #1 in Environmental Law by U.S...
, with a degree in environmental law.
Currently she owns her own small environmental law firm near Londonderry, Vermont
Londonderry, Vermont
Londonderry is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. It is bounded on the north by Landgrove and Weston, on the east by Windham, on the south by Jamaica and on the west by Winhall and Landgrove. The population was 1,709 at the 2000 census. Londonderry also includes the village of South...
.(2008)
Gymnastics
Mills was coached by MartaMarta Károlyi
Márta Károlyi , is an American gymnastics coach and the National Team Coordinator for USA Gymnastics. Károlyi is originally from Romania, she and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians, and trained athletes there as well, but defected to the United States in 1981...
and Béla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi
Béla Károlyi is a Romanian gymnastics coach. He was born in what was then Kolozsvár, Hungary, a region restored to Romanian administration after 1944. Károlyi and his wife, Márta, also of Hungarian origin, emigrated to the United States in 1981 and both have dual citizenships for Romania and the...
in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. She attended her first U.S. Nationals in 1984, finishing eighth in the junior division. While Mills was sometimes overshadowed in the media by her teammate Kristie Phillips
Kristie Phillips
Kristie Phillips-Bannister , formerly known as Kristie Phillips, is a retired American elite gymnast. The 1987 senior U.S. National Champion and one of the American team's strongest and most visible competitors in the mid-1980s, Phillips was considered to be one of the front-runners for the 1988...
, she developed a reputation as a steady, consistent competitor in national and international meets, placing third at the 1985 City of Popes competition and second at the 1986 U.S. Olympic Festival and U.S. Nationals (junior division). In 1987 she attended her first and only World Gymnastics Championships
World Gymnastics Championships
The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique organises World Gymnastics Championships for each of the gymnastic disciplines:...
as a member of the sixth-place American team.
1988 was Mills' breakout year. She won every meet she entered, including the U.S. Nationals, the American Cup, the Mardi Gras Invitational and the International Mixed Pairs, was named the United States Olympic Committee's Gymnast of the Year and was nominated for the prestigious James E. Sullivan Award
James E. Sullivan Award
The James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the American Amateur Athletic Union , is awarded annually in April to "the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Often referred to as the Oscar of sports awards, it was first presented in 1930. The award is named for the AAU's founder and past...
. She also placed first at the U.S. Olympic Trials, easily earning a spot on the American squad for the 1988 Olympics
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
.
Mills emerged as the U.S. team's most successful gymnast at the Olympics. While she finished a modest fifteenth place in the all-around, she also qualified for three event finals, more than any other member of the team. She performed a solid, artistic routine to win a bronze medal on the balance beam, behind Daniela Silivaş
Daniela Silivas
Viorica Daniela Silivaş-Harper , best known as Daniela Silivaş, is a Romanian gymnast who is most famous for winning six medals in women's artistic gymnastics at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea...
and Elena Shushunova. With her third-place finish, Mills became the first American female gymnast to win a medal in a fully attended Olympics, and the only American gymnast, male or female, to medal in Seoul.
Mills continued to compete in early 1989, but retired later that year. She has occasionally returned to the sport as a coach. In 2000, Mills was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Diving
After retiring from gymnastics, Mills became involved with competitive divingDiving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
, specializing in the 10-meter platform event. She excelled in the sport enough to join the diving team at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, where she won the Big East Conference for three years. She also competed in national diving events, participating in the 1993 Olympic Festival and the U.S. Diving Championships. Mills retired from diving after graduation.
Snowboarding
Most recently, Mills has been involved with the sport of snowboardingSnowboarding
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
. She has acted as a snowboarding coach and instructor, working with the U.S. junior national team. Mills currently serves as the Vice President of USASA, the United States of America Snowboarding Association.
External links
- List of competitive results
- Whatever Happened to Phoebe Mills?
- "Catching up with Phoebe Mills." International Gymnast magazine, 2000
- USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame profile