``I'm so happy right now, it's hard to think,'' Borden said. ``I knew coming into this meet that I had to hit all of my events and that's what I did. I hung in there.''

The gymnasts here in Boston were competing for five spots, although the Olympic team consists of seven gymnasts. Two of the spots went to Shannon Miller and Dominique Moceanu, who sat out of the meet because of injuries. Their scores from the national championships were high enough to earn them trips to Atlanta. Miller won that meet with a 78.38 while Moceanu scored a 78.22.

Dominique Dawes was the high scorer of the Olympic Trials with a 78.157, followed by Kerri Strugg (78.108), Jaycie Phelps (77.736), Amy Chow (77.267) and Borden.

While the frontrunners were virtually assured of a spot on the Olympic team after their strong performances in the compulsories, Borden needed a mistake-free meet to make the team.

Borden's strength normally is the compulsories competition, but several errors on Friday put her on the bubble.

She turned things around on Sunday. Borden opened up the meet on the uneven bars, the event she had the most problems on in the compulsories. Competing as the first gymnast on the event, Borden nailed her routine for a 9.787.

``That was an important event for her, but then again every event was important'' said Mary Lee Tracy, who coaches Borden and Phelps. ``She knew she had to dig herself out of that hole and she did it.''

Borden came through with a 9.625 on the vault, which is normally her weakest event. Arnold and Kulikowski, her closest competitors, scored 9.562 and 9.662, respectively.

Borden gave herself some breathing room on the next event, the balance beam. In Thursday's competition, Borden nearly came off the beam and scored just 9.487. She didn't give a repeat performance on Sunday as she performed a clean routine to score a 9.862 - the highest score on the beam in the competition.

That effort gave the 19-year-old a .55 lead going into the last rotation.

``After that we knew she could even have a mistake on floor and still make the team,'' Tracy said. ``But I've been around long enough to know it's not over until it's over. You still have to go out there and compete.''

Borden clinched her spot on the team with a 9.787. It is her first trip to the Olympics after missing the U.S. team in 1992.

``When I missed it in 1992, the disappointment got worse as I got older because I started to realize most people only get one chance at the Olympics,'' Borden said. ``I wanted to try it again in 1996. I can't explain how I feel right now. I guess dreams do come true.''

``My head hurt, but I couldn't think about it,'' Chow said. ``I knew I still had to compete.''

The U.S. will have one of its strongest teams ever at the Olympics. Miller, Dawes and Strug were all on the 1992 Olympic team, which won the bronze, while Borden and Phelps have plenty of international experience.

``This is the best team we've ever had, without a doubt,'' Tracy said. ``These are the girls that should be on the team. Experience is going to play into the meet. You could see it out there tonight. Even though Amanda was the one on the bubble, she was out there keeping Jaycie calm. That was the experience of Amanda showing.''