Rewind: Shawn Johnson Wins Gold on the Balance Beam

“She showed a lot of mental toughness to get through some very difficult days here. She showed the maturity, fighting day after day after day. I am so proud of her because I believe she really deserves this gold.”

--Liang Qiao, Shawn Johnson’s long-time coach.

"I finished off the Olympic Games with, to me, the most perfect ending ever. To finally get the gold medal ... on my very last routine meant the world to me. To finally have a gold and be an Olympic gold medalist, it's what everyone dreams of. It's so exciting. It's the best feeling ever."

--Shawn Johnson.

Focus: “You don’t train for silver.” -- Shawn Johnson

Shawn Johnson, U.S. gymnast, after winning three silver medals, finally gets a gold in the individual balance beam.

“Having three silvers is hard. I was hoping she would get the gold medal and we could say that we are both Olympic champions.”

--Nastia Liukin, teammate and gold medalist in the women's all-around.

Excerpts from the New York Times, 8/19/08.

Rewind: Shawn Johnson Gains Perspective

"Of course, when you're training your whole life to get to the Olympics, you train for gold. But honestly a silver around my neck three times at the Olympics means more to me than anything."

--Shawn Johnson, USA world champion gymnast, who has won three silver medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but has failed to score gold thus far. She has one more chance in the balance beam competition.

For more on Shawn Johnson, including an article and video click on The Freedom to Fail on NBCOlympics.com,

or click on:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/news/newsid=163564.html?_source=rss&cid=

Excerpts from the New York Times 8/18/2008.

Handling Pressure in Beijing

SWIMMING

“Growing up, even though breaststroke was my worst stroke, I wanted to swim it. I wanted to race in it. I didn’t care. I like challenges.”

--Michael Phelps, responding to questions about the pressure he felt when having to meet the challenge of an 2008 Olympic medley race.

WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS

"I just tried to stay in my own little box. my own little world and ignore what was going on around me. I knew there were things happening around me that I couldn't control, so I really tried to stay focused. Sometimes, I talk to myself to keep my mind busy."

--Shawn Johnson of the USA gymnastics team and reigning women's gymnastics champion, following a qualification round in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, during which injuries on the team put additional pressure on the remaining members. Johnson, with 62.725 points, helped the USA team finish 1-2 in the individual all-around to make the finals.

"I feel like the whole day was crazy, but we just proved to everyone that we could handle anything. I think China probably thought this was good because we showed some weakness. But this brought us together even more and made us even stronger."

"It made me a little more nervous because I knew that we had only four girls competing now. Our team was slowly dwindling down, and I definitely felt like I put a little bit more pressure on myself to do better."

--Alicia Sacramone, USA gymnast who qualified for the finals in the vault, discussing handling the pressure of competing and dealing with the favored Chinese team.