By Shawn Johnson

My coach, Liang Chow, had one rule while I was training for the 2008 Olympics: no skiing. I could do anything I wanted outside the gym, he said, except ski. Naturally, when the Olympics were over and I was able to take a break from high-level gymnastics, I told my parents I wanted to learn to ski.

We celebrated my 18th birthday, in January 2010, with a skiing trip to Colorado. On the final run of our last day, our group stood at the top of the mountain and looked at two different paths: a difficult black diamond trail or an intermediate blue run. My friends decided to ski the black diamond, but I was tired and lacked confidence to make it down the more difficult hill. I chose the intermediate run. Halfway down, I hit a patch of ice and I fell. It wasn’t a bad fall, but the binding holding my left foot to the ski didn’t unfasten. My ski caught in the snow with my left leg still attached while I rolled over my knee.

I was falling down the mountain. It was a “yard sale” with everything flying everywhere, so I didn’t realize right away I had hurt myself. When I got up, though, my knee hurt a lot and I skied down the rest of the way on the other leg. I didn’t know it yet, but the fall had torn my ACL, MCL and meniscus. After 13 years of hard landings in gymnastics, one ski run had delivered the biggest injury of my career. No wonder Chow hadn’t wanted me on the slopes before Beijing!

In some ways the ACL tear was a blessing. I had hesitated to return to elite gymnastics after the 2008 Olympics. I told myself I had already accomplished so much, and the road was just going to get harder if I continued. It might have been easier to retire, to say my knee couldn’t handle it and let that be that. At the same time, the prospect of not being able to compete in gymnastics anymore was heartbreaking. Eventually I realized beneath the sadness was something else: a determination to return to the highest level of gymnastics and compete well. A determination to try to make a second Olympic team.

Shawn Johnson is doing a six-week intensive rehab program to heal her surgically repaired knee before returning to full gymnastics training.

I had surgery to repair the ACL in February 2010 and was back in the gym by June, but rushed things too quickly and ended up re-tearing my MCL in September. A second surgery repaired the damage but kept me out of gymnastics until February 2011. Five months later, in July, I competed at a national qualifier called the CoverGirl Classic, my first meet in almost three years.

I was able to do Classics, the U.S. national championships and the Pan American Games and feel like I improved with each meet, but I was still struggling with a lot of residual pain from the two surgeries. I had gotten to a point where I was able to complete three events just fine, but I still wasn’t as strong as I wanted to be, and I still wasn’t competing floor exercise.

I had a constant fear, a constant little doubt in my mind: “OK, I’m getting ready to do my standing back full on beam and I might re-tear my ACL.” It’s a horrible feeling. To have any doubt in your body is the biggest weakness an athlete can have. There are times when I physically can’t get myself to go for a skill because I’m thinking, “My knee hurts really bad.” It makes you question: Is something wrong? Is the injury going to happen again?

The truth is, rehabbing my knee had been put on the back burner. I didn’t make it a priority, and as a result my knee didn’t heal to the extent it should have. I had wanted to act like a machine and push through it. But it wasn’t possible.

I knew I wasn’t going to get where I needed to be just by doing the everyday usual routine in my gym. So, a month ago I moved to Dallas to do a six-week program at the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney, Texas. Here, I’m focusing solely on getting my body — specifically my knee — where it needs to be in order to be ready for the U.S. national championships and Olympic trials in June.

I see a physical therapist daily for about two to three hours. We do a lot of strength training and biometrics work with high-tech tools like the Nike SPARQ Sensory Performance Lab, Dartfish

Shawn Johnson and U.S. discus thrower Jarred Rome.

digital movement analysis and Myotest. I do a lot of jumping and landing and things that really cater to my sport. In the evenings I head to a local gymnastics club for a few hours of skill work, just to keep up and make sure I don’t forget everything I know!

I’m pleased to say my knee feels a lot better. It’s still not back to normal, and I don’t know if it ever will be, but I’m learning to deal with it instead of expecting it to be like it was before. In two weeks I’ll return to Chow’s gym in Des Moines and from there will press on with full gymnastics training.

I know how much more I need to do to be where I want. I’m trying to stay as calm as possible and focus one day at a time, but when reality sets in, I feel everything: anxiety, excitement, nerves, pressure and joy. I have a lot of expectations and a lot of goals I want to fulfill, but the biggest dream is still to make the Olympic team for London.

Shawn Johnson will be blogging for espnW throughout her training for the Olympics in London this summer. Check back in March for more on her journey.

SHAWN JOHNSON TO WRITE MEMOIR WITH TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS
BOOK BY OLYMPIC GYMNAST, DANCING WITH THE STARS WINNER TO RELEASE JUNE 2012

Carol Stream, IL –Four-time Olympic medalist and Dancing with the Stars winner Shawn Johnson will release a memoir, Winning Balance: What I’ve Learned So Far about Love, Faith, and Living Your Dreams, with Tyndale House Publishers, the Illinois-based publisher announced today. The book, which is scheduled to release June 5, 2012, comes as Johnson is attempting an Olympic comeback after a potentially career-ending ski injury in 2010. The book will provide an intimate look into Johnson’s life, including her remarkably balanced upbringing in Iowa, her quest for gold at the 2008 Olympic Games, her hard work and determination in the face of adversity after the Olympics, her turn on Dancing with the Stars, and what she is learning as she prepares for a possible comeback at the 2012 Olympics in London. The book will feature a comprehensive marketing and publicity campaign.

“My skiing accident was a challenge, but also a blessing,” said Johnson. “I had been so busy with work and travel, struggling to figure out what to do with my life, but now I finally had time to reflect and figure out who I was.”

As a member of the 2008 USA Women’s Gymnastics Team, Johnson won four medals, one gold and three silver. In 2009, she captured the national spotlight again by winning the widely popular Dancing with the Stars competition. Johnson also won the 2009 ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) for female Olympian and the Teen Choice Award for female athlete in 2009 and 2011. In the midst of these successes, Johnson suffered the potentially career-ending injury that forced her life to a halt and made her rethink what was really important. She has made a comeback on the international gymnastics scene and hopes to be a member of the 2012 Olympic team in London, England, this summer.

“There’s an incredible depth to Shawn that many people want to know more about,” said Jan Long Harris, Tyndale Associate Publisher. “She’s an amazing athlete and role model who displays a humility and maturity well beyond her years. We’re delighted to be working with her.”

Winning Balance reveals the amazing against-the-odds journey of a young woman from an ordinary family who won an Olympic gold medal on the balance beam and became even more balanced in life. The book will be available nationwide, wherever books are sold.

Tyndale House Publishers was founded in 1962 by Dr. Kenneth N. Taylor as a means of publishing The Living Bible. It is now one of the premier publishing houses in the industry. Tyndale has published a number of sports-related New York Times bestsellers by authors such as Tony Dungy, Drew Brees, and Joe Gibbs. Tyndale also publishes the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, and many other resources for church and family. Tyndale House Publishers is located in Carol Stream, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago.

Contact:  Christy Stroud
630-784-5389
christystroud@tyndale.com

Todd Starowitz
630-784-5397
toddstarowitz@tyndale.com

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Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson makes ESPNW’s list of “American Women to Watch at the 2011 Pan Am Games.”

Some U.S. athletes to watch at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara:

Shawn Johnson, gymnastics. The Des Moines, Iowa, native, who won silver in the all-around and gold on balance beam at the 2008 Olympics, retired from the sport after the Beijing Games and went on to win “Dancing With The Stars.” Now 19 and attempting a comeback, the Pan Ams will be her first major international competition since the Beijing Olympics.

Shawn Johnson competes on the balance beam during the Senior Women's competition on day four of the Visa Gymnastics Championships at Xcel Energy Center on August 20, 2011 in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo: Ronald Martinez, Getty Images North America)

The rural state of Iowa isn’t a breeding ground for athletes like Florida or California; however, it boasts a solid top 10 list of star power with recognizable, household names.  Among the Top 10 Best Professional Athletes Born in Iowa, is Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson.

Shawn Johnson

Born: Des Moines
Sport: Gymnastics
Notable Achievements: Four Olympic medals: one gold, three silver.

In addition to winning four Olympic medals in 2008, Shawn Johnson was able to capture seven total gold medals in 2007 over various major gymnastics competitions.

She won three gold medals at 2007′s World Championships and four at the Pan American games in that same year.

Johnson has a chance to increase her already impressive resume if she can make it onto the United States’ 2012 Olympic roster. She is currently an alternate on the World Championships team, but she’s hoping to come back from a 2010 ACL tear and compete in the Olympics next summer.

Even if she can’t make the squad, her list of accomplishments is more than worthy of putting her on this list.

Which superstar professional athletes call the state of Iowa home? Read on to find out.