Introducing Shawn Johnson, a Gymnastics Hottie

Get used to the name, Shawn Johnson. By the end of August, she'll be a household name everywhere. It's a close call between her and Nastia Liukin but I personally think Shawn's going to be the one that will go all the way in Beijing for Team USA in gymnastics.

Shawn Johnson at US Olympic trials,


Here is her bio from Wikipedia,
Shawn Johnson (born January 19, 1992 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American gymnast. She is the 2007 World All-Around Champion, as well as the 2007 and 2008 U.S. National All-Around Champion.

Shawn Johnson qualified to Junior International Elite status on her first attempt. She first attracted widespread attention at the 2005 U.S. Classic, where she placed 3rd in the junior division.

At the 2005 U.S. National Championships, Johnson struggled on the first day of competition, falling from the beam and on the floor, and eventually placed tenth.

By 2006, Johnson was ready with new skills, including a Jaeger on bars, a rarely-seen tucked full-in beam dismount, and an even rarer tucked double-twisting double back somersault on the floor exercise. She won the 2006 U.S. Junior National All-Around Champion with a score higher than any of the senior elite competitors that year.

For 2008, Shawn upgraded all four of her events in her bid to become a member of the U.S. delegation to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She is planning:

* Vault - Amanar (originated by Simona Amânar) - 2 1/2 twisting, laid out Yurchenko], adding 0.7 in difficulty

* Bars - Reverse Hect Tkatchev, adding 0.2 in difficulty

* Floor - A whip to a triple full (replacing her double pike pass), Full in dismount, adding 0.5 in difficulty

* Beam - Front Pike, adding 0.1 in difficulty

Shawn competed in the American Cup on March 1, 2008 in Madison Square Garden. It was a very good meet for her, and an opportunity to attempt new elements she has been working on. Her first was on vault where she attempted her new 2 1/2 twisting Yurchenko vault. She had been working on them during the warm-ups and kept over-rotating, so she scaled it back during the meet in the hopes of sticking the vault. Unfortunately, she fell which cost her 0.8 points, but she still managed to receive a 15.175 for her score (the difficulty for a 2 1/2 twisting layed-out Yurchenko vault is a 6.5). She performed very well on her remaining three events, scoring a 15.625 on uneven bars, a 16.325 on balance beam and a 15.975 on floor exercise. She was ranked 1st on all her events except for uneven bars, but was still beat out of the all-around by 2 time American Cup Champion (2005-2006) Nastia Liukin. Nastia won mainly due to her 16.600 on uneven bars, which was nearly a point higher than Shawn's uneven bar score.

One week later, Shawn competed at a more low-key competition in Jesolo, Italy against Italy, Spain, and Poland, with teammates Jana Bieger, Olivia Courtney, Chelsea Davis, Bridget Sloan, and Samantha Peszek. The U.S. took the junior and senior all-around team titles, and Shawn took the individual all-around title with 61.7 points to outscore second place winner Vanessa Ferrari (60.1) Shawn also took the highest scores on three of four events, on vault (15.2), beam (16.2), and floor (15.0 with a big step out of bounds on her double-double.)

On June 7, 2008, Shawn competed and beat Nastia Liukin in the 2008 U.S. National Championships, paving the way to a team effort taking them to the Olympic trials. The reigning world champion took the first round in a rivalry with teammate Nastia Liukin that is sure to captivate all the way through the Beijing Olympics, winning her second straight title at the U.S. gymnastics championships. Johnson finished with a score of 127.5, edging Liukin by one point.

The top 12 and others chosen by the selection committee now advance to the Olympic Trials to be held on June 19-22 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The top two at trials earn spots in Beijing, with the remaining four members of the team and up to three alternates named after a July 20 selection camp at the Karolyi ranch.

On June 22, 2008 Johnson and Nastia Liukin were named to the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team bound for The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China; Johnson winning the Olympic Trials and Liukin coming in as the second place.

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