Amy Yuen Yee Chow (Chinese: 周婉儀; pinyin: Zhōu Wǎnyí; born May 15, 1978) is an American former artistic gymnast who competed at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. She is best known for being a member of the Magnificent Seven, which won the United States' first team gold medal in Olympic gymnastics. She is also the first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics. Early life Chow was born to Nelson and Susan Chow, who had immigrated to the United States from Guangzhou and Hong Kong, respectively. Chow began gymnastics training in 1981 at the age of 3. Her mother wanted her to be a ballerina and tried enrolling her in ballet schools, none of which would take a child that young. She then signed Amy up for classes at West Valley Gymnastics School in Campbell, California, where she joined an accelerated program at the age of 5, training under Mark Young and Diane Amos. Her younger brother, Kevin, was also a gymnast. Gymnastics career 1989–1993 At 11 years old, Chow became the first gymnast at her school to reach the elite level. She began competing nationally in 1990. 1994–1995 Chow's first international competition was the 1994 World Championships in Dortmund, Germany. After a poor showing in preliminaries (she fell twice on vault and three times in a single balance beam routine), she performed well in the team finals, helping the United States clinch a silver medal. The following year, Chow was part of the gold medal-winning American team at the 1995 Pan American Games, where she also won a gold medal on vault, silver on the uneven bars and bronze in the all-around. She made the United States team for the 1995 World Championships, but had to withdraw because of a sprained ankle sustained just days before the competition. 1996 Chow is primarily known for her performance at the 1996 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal with the team and a silver on the uneven bars. At the Olympic Trials, she fell off the beam, scraping her face on the side of the apparatus, but got up and completed her routine despite obvious pain, and was named to the Olympic team along with Amanda Borden, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps and Kerri Strug. The team would become known as the Magnificent Seven. In the team final at the Olympics, Chow competed on