Shawn Johnson Biography

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:46:00 +0000

Shawn Machal Johnson (born January 19, 1992) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around silver medalist, the 2007 all-around World Champion, and the 2007 and 2008 U.S. all-around champion.

Early Career

Shawn Johnson qualified to Junior International Elite status on her first attempt. She first attracted widespread attention at the 2005 U.S. Classic, where she placed 3rd in the junior division. At the 2005 U.S. National Championships, Johnson struggled on the first day of competition, falling from the beam and on the floor. She placed tenth in the All-Around.

By 2006, Johnson was ready with new skills, including a Jaeger on bars, and two top-difficulty skills: full-in beam dismount and double-twisting double back floor exercise mount. She won the 2006 U.S. Junior National All-Around Champion with a score higher than any of the senior elite competitors that year.

Senior Career

2007

Johnson entered the senior division in 2007, and continued to showcase new skills, including a double twisting double layout dismount off the uneven bars. She competed at the 2007 Tyson American Cup, winning the All-Around title over teammate Natasha Kelley. Johnson also competed in the 2007 Pan American Games, winning four gold medals in the team finals, the individual all-around, and the balance beam and uneven bar finals, and the silver in the floor exercise final.

She won the All-Around at the 2007 Visa U.S. National Championships, beating two-time National Champion Nastia Liukin by more than 5 points, and Shayla Worley by more than 3 points.

Johnson represented the U.S. at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships with teammates Nastia Liukin, Shayla Worley, Alicia Sacramone, Ivana Hong and Samantha Peszek. They won the team competition with a score of 184.400 points, 0.95 points ahead of the silver medalist Chinese team. Johnson competed on all four apparatus in the team competition.

In the qualification round, Johnson earned a score of 16.25 on beam, 15.15 on floor exercise, and 15.175 on vault. She fell on her uneven bars dismount and scored 14.625.[2] The U.S. finished first in the qualifying round. Johnson's scores qualified her for the all-around finals, along with Liukin. Johnson also qualified to the beam and floor event finals.

In the team competition, Johnson scored 15.375 on uneven bars and floor exercise, and a 15.150 on vault. She fell on the beam on her handspring-handspring-layout series and scored 15.025. The U.S. team won the gold medal. It was the second team gold medal for the United States.

In the individual all-around competition, Johnson performed a double-twisting Yurchenko vault and scored 15.175. She scored 15.425 on floor exercise, 15.9 on beam, and 15.375 on uneven bars. Her total score of 61.875 earned her the gold medal. She became the fourth American woman to win the All-Around.

During event finals, Johnson first competed on the balance beam, where she fell on her standing full and on her switch side leap, earning a score of 14.475. She finished in last place. In floor exercise, she went out-of-bounds on her first tumbling pass and won the gold with a score of 15.25.

2008 Summer Olympics

At the 2008 Summer Olympics Johnson competed in all four events during the team competition, in which the United States won the silver medal. Johnson also won the silver medal in the Individual All-Around competition, receiving a score of 62.725. Johnson's teammate Nastia Liukin won the gold medal, receiving a score of 63.325. With Liukin taking gold and Johnson silver, this competition was the first time that the United States Women's Gymnastics team took both the gold and silver medals in the Individual All-Around competition; this competition also marks only the fourth time any country has won both the gold and silver medals in the Individual All-Around competition.

"Shawn Johnson." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 16 Aug 2008, 04:09 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 16 Aug 2008 .