Team USA, by Alan Abrahamson
Shawn Johnson has a lot of fans. For good reason. She is the 2007 gymnastics all-around world champion and the winner of four medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. One of those medals, on the balance beam, is gold. In 2009, she won “Dancing With the Stars.”
Shawn Johnson is the whole package. From the get-go, she has represented herself, her family and her country with class and style.
When Shawn announced almost two years ago that she was going to try to mount a comeback for the 2012 London Games, many of her fans assumed she would be a lock for the U.S. team.
Shawn has known better, and for a long time. So have many gymnastics insiders. The knee she blew out in a skiing accident celebrating her 18th birthday was going to make it that much tougher. So would the extended time off from the gym.
Now, with the London Games about 100 days away, 20-year-old Shawn is diligently working out, once more in the same West Des Moines, Iowa, gym, and again under the tutelage of coach Liang Chow. The aim is clear. The will is there. But, in a frank and revealing conversation Friday, she acknowledged she very well might not make the 2012 U.S. team.
“My biggest goal,” she said, referring to the U.S. team, “is for them to get the gold medal.
“If I am not part of the team, I have to accept that.”
Which, she said, she has, fully and completely.
“I am OK with that. It’s what’s best for the USA. It’s not what’s best for me.” (read more)
