Shawn Johnson

Golden girl Shawn Johnson joins Iowa’s Healthiest State Initiative with two new Public Service Announcements:

Iowa celebrities of all ages — both in the state and across the country — are lending their faces and voices to a series of television and radio public service announcements that will encourage Iowans to participate in a Start Somewhere Walk on Friday, October 7, at noon.

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Sports Illustrated (AP)

Shawn Johnson is starting to look a little retro.
Retro as in 2007 and 2008.

Three weeks after looking rusty at a qualifier, her first competition since winning four medals at the Beijing Olympics, Johnson showed glimpses of her old self Thursday night at the U.S. gymnastics championships. She posted the third-highest score of the night on balance beam, and was solid on vault and uneven bars.

Best of all, she oozed the kind of confidence that she had when she and Nastia Liukin were running roughshod on the rest of the world.

“I feel like I’m starting to feel how to calm myself,” said Johnson, who also won the world title in 2007. “It was more just me and the competition instead of worrying about what everyone was thinking. I enjoyed it more this time.”

So much so that she even joked with coach Liang Chow, offering to throw in a floor routine. Johnson is only doing three events here, not doing floor to protect her surgically repaired knee.

“I did not care too much on her scores,” Chow said. “But her confidence and performance was way better than the first meet. I’m very pleased with that.” (read more)

Congrats Shawn! Shawn Johnson Wins 2011 Teen Choice Award- Choice Female Athlete!
Live award show aired Sunday, August 7 on FOX.
This is the second Teen Choice Award for Shawn. She won previously won the Choice Female Athlete Award in 2008. (read more)

Universal Sports

Olympic beam champion Shawn Johnson took a moment to speak with UniversalSports.com on Sunday while promoting the VISA National Gymnastics Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota this August.

Johnson is set to return to competition at this month’s CoverGirl Classic. We talked to her about the nerves, excitement, and her progress.

Is being in St. Paul to promote Nationals a reality check that yes, you are really coming back?

It definitely makes it more real now. It’s kind of scary because now people really know for sure I’m competing, but it’s exciting, too.

Your coach recently said you would compete at CoverGirl Class later this month, but then you Tweeted it was not a sure thing. What is your current status?

I’m doing CoverGirl as of right now. We’re using CoverGirl as a test run. My first one out. Testing the waters and getting my confidence back and Nationals will be my first real competition. That’s the plan so far. I’ll do three events at each meet – maybe four at Championships. (read more)