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.

While his latest comeback hasn’t been without its challenges, Hamm is ready to take the next step by competing in the Winter Cup Challenge starting Thursday at the Las Vegas (Nev.) Sports Center.

Hamm, 29, plans to compete on four of the six apparatus: floor exercise, pommel horse, vault and parallel bars. He is not yet ready on the high bar and rings following surgery one year ago to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

“Keep in mind I haven’t competed in four years, but I think you’re going to see (the old) Paul Hamm on four events this weekend,” he said in a conference call Tuesday.

Hamm started the conference call Tuesday with a statement.

“First off, I want to address my ongoing legal situation,” he said. “Since my case has yet to be resolved, I have been advised by my lawyer not to discuss any details of what took place or the case in general.

“I would like to say that I sincerely regret what happened and I hope to regain my reputation by my actions going forward.”

“I want to be very clear that Paul is eligible to compete this weekend and in other competitions,” said Steve Penny, president and CEO of USA Gymnastics. “We believe Paul is accepting responsibility for his actions.”

Hamm said his ultimate goal was to help the U.S. men win team gold at the London Games this summer, but he didn’t rule out another shot at the all-around title.

“I’m looking at how I can help the team, first off,” he said. “If in three months rings and high bar are definite possibilities, then the all-around becomes an option.

“Whether I’m competitive with the top gymnasts in the world, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Hamm has been training at Swiss Turners Gymnastics Academy in West Allis. He spent the last 2½ weeks in Houston, training with Jonathan Horton, the 2010 world all-around bronze medalist.

“My shoulder isn’t ever going to be 100% again but as far as fully healed I would say yes,” he said. “I think it is still getting better. Certain skills are becoming a little easier every week, even a year after surgery.”

He added that he has been careful not to push the shoulder too hard.

“The sport is very tough on your body and you have to be smart with your training,” he said. “I’m trying to do things in a similar way but I have to be careful. Certain skills are more damaging to my shoulder and I’ll avoid them. The longer I do an event like rings, the better the chance of things breaking down.”

Hamm also won world all-around gold in 2003 but hasn’t competed since he broke a bone in his right hand at the 2008 U.S. championships. That injury forced him to resign his position on the Olympic team just days before the start of the Beijing Games.

He decided in the summer of 2010 to commit to training for one more shot at the Olympics.

“I have worked extremely hard my whole life and I know I am a contender,” he said. “I am solely focused on how I can help this U.S. men’s team. If there ever was a time for the U.S. to win (Olympic) team gold, this is it.”

The U.S. men last won team gold in 1984. The Americans won the bronze medal in 2008.

Tune in to SPREECAST (here) at 12pm on Wednesday, January 25 and join in the conversation!

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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