Liang Qiao

By Juliet Macur, The New York Times

BEIJING — In her final chance for a gold medal at these Olympics, Shawn Johnson hopped up on the balance beam and sparkled in her blue and red leotard.

Three times, she had finished second at these Games. But for Johnson, the 16-year-old with the blinding smile, that would not be enough.

So she buried her disappointment and hit her routine, sticking to the beam on each landing, as if her feet had glue on them. Afterward, she hugged her competitors from China, then waited for the final two gymnasts to perform.

Neither of them would score higher than Johnson’s 16.225.

On the arena floor, Johnson melted into her coach, Liang Qiao, for a big bear hug. She had dreamed of giving him a gold medal here in his hometown and finally, on the last day of gymnastics competition, she had done it. (read more)

By Tan Yingzi, China Daily Staff Writer

For US women's gymnastics coach Qiao Liang, it's good to be home.

Qiao, a Beijing native and former Asian champion, has returned to his hometown for the Olympics after an absence of 14 years.

"It's great to be back," Qiao said during the US team's press conference at the Main Press Center on Thursday.

"I've seen a lot of my former teammates and friends. When I go to the arena, it seems that everybody knows me. It's a great feeling."

Qiao took up gymnastics at age 5. During the 1980s, he was one of the star gymnasts on the Chinese national team, winning several titles at National Games, Asian Games and World Cup events.

He retired after the 1990 Asian Games and moved to the US, where he received a scholarship at the University of Iowa.

"I stayed on the national team for 10 years and I had a great time there. I had a good relationship with my coaches and teammates. But after I retired, I thought I was too young to stay on the team as a coach," he said.

"The world was so big and I felt I wanted to take advantage of other opportunities." (read more)

The New York Times

By JULIET MACUR June 19. 2008 PHILADELPHIA — When the floodwaters rose in Iowa last week and the bloated Raccoon River filled Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute with water that was knee deep, Shawn Johnson suddenly was a gymnast with no gym. Liang Chow, her coach and the gym’s owner, immediately gave her a pep talk. “I said, ‘Don’t be worried about this; we will put things back together,’ ” Liang said Tuesday, describing his conversation with Johnson, the favorite to win the all-around at the Beijing Olympics. “We also talked to her parents to make sure she was not panicking.” The United States Olympic gymnastics trials were less than a week away, and Johnson’s emotions were roiling. But there was no time to be upset. There was an Olympic team to make and an Olympic gold medal to win. So it did not take long for Johnson, a 16-year-old from West Des Moines, to bounce back. (read more)

Sports Illustrated, E.M. Swift A Chinese coach at an Iowa gym has helped build smart, spirited 16-year-old Shawn Johnson into the world all-around champion and the gold medal favorite. Now she wants to bring him glory in his homeland. Shawn Johnson should have been able to relax. She is, after all, the 16-year-old poster child for the world champion U.S. women's gymnastics team, the winner of three golds, including the all-around title, in Stuttgart, Germany, last September. With her big brown eyes and guileless smile, she's a hometown hero in Des Moines, where a local car dealer gave her the keys to a new Land Rover for her birthday in January. Not that Johnson needed the handout -- she has endorsement contracts with Adidas, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Hy-Vee supermarkets, among others. An A student at Valley High in West Des Moines, the sophomore has her sights set on someday attending an Ivy League college. And if that isn't enough, the diminutive (4' 9", 94 pounds) Johnson has already been cast in bronze, with the life-sized statue to be displayed in the Iowa Hall of Pride in Des Moines, opposite the black-and-white photos of Mamie Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover and Andy Williams. All this comes before the Beijing Olympics, at which Johnson hopes to become the third American woman, after Mary Lou Retton and Carly Patterson, to win an Olympic all-around gold. The world, it would seem, is the young lady's oyster. (read more)