Shawn Johnson struggles in 1st meet since Beijing
No gold or silver for Shawn Johnson this time.
More like rust.
Johnson struggled in her first competition since the Beijing Olympics on Saturday night, falling off balance beam and pitching forward on the dismount of her uneven bars routine at the Cover Girl Classic in Chicago, a qualifier for next month's national championships. Neither of her scores, a 13.55 on bars and a 13.3 on beam, was in the top five for the apparatus.
"It didn't go as planned. I made some mistakes," Johnson said. "But it's my first meet back. I've gotten the nerves out."
Johnson will get another crack at competition in just three weeks after USA Gymnastics officials approved her petition to compete in the U.S. nationals, Aug. 17-20 in St. Paul, Minn.
While Johnson was shaky, her 2008 teammates Chellsie Memmel and Alicia Sacramone were rock solid. Memmel, the 2005 world champion, only got serious about her comeback in January, but it looked as if the 23-year-old had never been away as she finished second in the all-around and qualified for nationals with a score of 56.95.
Sacramone finished first on vault and beam, and was third on floor exercise.
Johnson needed time off after winning the world title in 2007 and four medals in Beijing — a gold on balance beam and silvers in the all-around, team competition and floor exercise. She won Dancing With the Stars, carried the Olympic torch before the Vancouver Games and crisscrossed the country making commercial appearances.
Only 16 in Beijing, she talked about coming back for London. Would even drop by her old gym whenever she was home in Des Moines. But elite gymnastics leaves little room for anything else, and Johnson was having too much fun being a "normal" teenager.
Until she blew out her knee.
Tearing the ACL, MCL and meniscus in her left knee, along with her hamstring, during a January 2010 ski trip made Johnson realize she missed gymnastics and wanted another shot at the Olympics. She headed straight from the doctor's office to the gym, where she and longtime coach Liang Chow began plotting out her comeback. She had made enough progress to be invited to the monthly training camps at the Karolyi ranch in November, and was back on the national team in February.
But training in her own gym or at the ranch is one thing. Getting out in front of an arena full of people is quite another.
Johnson looked nervous as she waited for the go-ahead signal on bars, her first event, rolling her toes as she stood on the takeoff board and taking several deep breaths. Her routine was solid, almost effortless. When she flew from the high bar to the low bar, she came to a dead stop in a perfect handstand — not easy to do when you've got all that momentum going. But she got a little short on her dismount and took such a big bounce forward her forehead almost hit the mat.
Johnson's last competition was the balance beam final in Beijing — and this performance wasn't anything like it. She had to drop off the beam on her opening aerial sequence, and needed to steady herself after doing a turn. But she recovered nicely, landing back to back aerial somersaults with such ease the beam looked as if it was on flat ground rather than four 4 feet in the air.
Chow gave her an encouraging pat on the back when she finished, and she smiled as she and the other competitors exchanged hugs.
Memmel's comeback is in such early stages that she hasn't even been to a national team training camp.
Her only real flaw of the night was on balance beam, where she had a big wobble on an aerial somersault. Her vault was also one of the easier ones done, and she'll need to upgrade it if she hopes to earn a spot on the team for this fall's world championships.