Shawn Johnson
Shawn Johnson
Shawn Machel Johnsonis an American retired artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and floor exercise silver medalist. Johnson is also a five-time Pan American Games gold medalist, winning the team titles in 2007 and 2011, as well as titles in the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam in 2007...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth19 January 1992
CountryUnited States of America
sports taken athlete
I missed being considered an athlete and having that competitive drive, and missed having something to work for every day. I'd taken two and a half years away from the sport and was out of shape. I wanted to get back to where I was in 2008.
sports gymnastics nerves
If you lose the nerves, you lose the sport.
sports drama anything-can-happen
That's the drama of our sport. Our margin of error is so small that anything can happen.
sports done gymnast
I told myself after 2008 that I was done for good. But they say you can't keep a gymnast away from her sport.
sports gymnastics thinking
I don't think I've ever not gotten nervous. When you work so hard for one special day or routine, you want to perform it better than you ever have. We always say at our gym, If you lose the nerves, you lose the sport.
sports fun kids
Everything for me started with my love of the sport. In society we're losing the fun with kids and pushing success on them too hard. Success comes from fun.
dug lead ourselves playing second strictly
Even the whole second half, we dug ourselves out of a 13-point lead (at the half), strictly by playing defense.
best performance preaching since today
We've been preaching (good passing) since the beginning, and today was our best performance this season.
age good taught
We're taught at such a young age that you can always be better and that you're never perfect and that you're never good enough.
elite focused hours kept serious turned year
Every year I just kept going back to gymnastics, but I didn't start out training 10 hours a day. When I turned 10 or 11, I got more serious and I focused a lot on making it to the elite level, and from there I just kept going.
experience knew learn progress took trying
Experience just took over. You can tell they're a very seasoned team. They knew what to do at the right time. We're still trying to learn how to play with each other, but I like the progress right before the playoffs.
extent
I didn't make it a priority, and as a result my knee didn't heal to the extent it should have.
motivating
I don't feel like a star; I never have. I don't feel like a star; I never have. I always feel like I'm the young one, I'm the small one. I always have someone to look up to, and I think it helps me with motivating myself.
I don't know where I'm really going to cha cha, but hopefully I can find a place.