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SHAWN JOHNSON
Official website: www.shawnjohnson.net
Shawn Johnson (born January 19, 1992 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American gymnast. She is the 2007 World All-Around
Champion, as well as the 2007 U.S. National All-Around Champion.
Shawn Johnson qualified to Junior International Elite status on her first attempt. She first attracted widespread attention at the
2005 US Classic, where she placed 3rd in the junior division.
At the 2005 National Championships, Johnson struggled the first day, falling from beam, and eventually placed seventh. By 2006,
Johnson was ready with new skills, including a jaegar on bars, a rarely-seen tucked full in beam dismount, and an even rarer tucked
double-twisting double back flip on the floor exercise. She won 2006 U.S. Junior National All-Around Champion with a score higher than
any senior's that year.
In 2007, Johnson entered the senior division, and continued to showcase new skills, including a laidout double twisting double
dismount off bars. She competed at the 2007 Tyson American Cup where she won the All-Around, beating out all other American U.S.
Senior Elites. She was also very successful 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 one silver in the floor exercise final, making her the most
successful gymnast of the games. She won the 2007 Visa National Championships, beating two-time National Champion
Nastia Liukin (who was returning from an ankle injury) by more than 5 points, and
Shayla Worley (who was also recovering from injury) by more than 3 points. She represented the
U.S. in the World Championships, with teammates Liukin, Worley, Alicia Sacramone, Ivana Hong,
and Samantha Peszek. The team placed first with 184.400 points, 0.95 point ahead of the silver medal Chinese team. Johnson competed on all
four apparatus for the team competition. She went on to win the all-around competition with a score of 61.875.
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Shawn Johnson, 2007 World Championsips
Photograph copyright © Enis Kostic, www.gymnasticsunited.com. All rights reserved. |
Throughout Johnson's elite career, she has been praised for her incredible power on the floor exercise, and the vault, and her
consistency and form on the balance beam and the uneven bars. Her two footed backhandspring-two footed backhandspring-two footed
layout combination on beam garnered praise for its height and form, along with her wolf jump-punch front-back tuck combination. However,
Johnson has been criticized for her lack of flexibility and lack of artistry on the floor exercise.
The 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were a big competition for Shawn. It was up and down for her almost continuously
throughout the competition, though there certainly were more ups than downs. In the qualification round, she hit her beam (16.25),
floor (15.15) and vault (15.175) routines cleanly, but had a fall on her bar dismount (14.625). The US finished first in the qualifying
round despite that mistake. That fall kept Shawn from finishing first after the preliminaries. It nonetheless allowed her to advance to
the all-around finals along with teammate Nastia Liukin. Shawn also qualified to the beam and
floor event finals.
The team competition was also a good competition for Shawn with a few struggles. She hit her bar routine for a 15.375, her floor
routine for the same score, but on beam she had a fall on her handspring-handspring-layout series, for a disappointing but nevertheless
solid score of 15.02. The US also suffered another mistake on beam when Nastia Liukin was forced
to change her dismount to a back tuck to keep from falling and injuring herself. The team pulled together for floor, however, with three
hit routines to win the team gold medal for the second time in history, and the first time on foreign soil.
The all-around competition was the highlight of the championships for Shawn. She performed a clean double-twisting yurchenko vault
for a 15.175, she performed a solid bar routine for a 15.375, performed an excellent beam routine with only a slight wobble on the
handspring-handspring-layout pass she had fallen off on in the team competition for a 15.9, and finished with her usual electrifying
floor routine for a 15.425, making her the 2007 World All-Around Champion, joining the short list of world all-around champions from the
US — Kim Zmeskal, Shannon Miller, and
Chellsie Memmel.
The event finals were up and down but ended on a high note. The first final she competed in was the balance beam, normally her best
event, where she had a fall on her standing full and her switch side leap, earning a 14.475, and putting her in last place. She came
back strong however, for the floor exercise finals, nailing every landing, earning a 15.25, and the world floor title.
Shawn walked away from the worlds with three gold medals, the most of any US gymnast.
Shortly after Shawn returned from the 2007 World Championships, she suffered the first major injury of her elite career. She suffered
a stress reaction in her right leg which, left untreated, can lead to a stress fracture. She wore a cast for a few days and then had it
replaced by a walking boot. She wore that for a few weeks, and scaled down her training. After that point, the injury was healed.
She considers herself very lucky that that was the only injury that came out of the 2007 season.
Shawn has said that she plans to continue to train for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Along with
Nastia Liukin and Alicia Sacramone, Shawn is
considered by most experts to be a lock to be named to the U.S. Olympic team, but in a sport as precarious as gymnastics, that could
change in an instant. Time will tell, but as of now, Shawn is a major contender for the Beijing Games.
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