BEIJING — Shawn Johnson goes to a public school because her parents want her to live as normal a life as possible. When you’re poised to become the darling of the Beijing Games for Americans, that’s not always going to happen.
Johnson, for instance, flew to the Olympic Trials on a private jet furnished by a family friend. (Her mom flew commercial because she didn’t feel right taking advantage of that generosity).
The reigning gymnastics all-around world champion and Olympic favorite from Iowa went to her prom this spring and got permission to stay out until 1 a.m. On the other hand, she drives a Land Rover provided by a local dealership shortly after she got her driver’s license.
“Beijing red,” said her mom, Teri, who won’t drive the Land Rover because it doesn’t seem appropriate. “It’s not mine.”
The 16-year-old goes to pep rallies and football games in her hometown of West Des Moines, although her training — typically four hours a day — usually keeps her from getting to games before halftime.
And she’s not big on cleaning her room. “She’ll help me,” Teri said with a roll of the eyes.
There will be nothing normal about Johnson’s life here, where she is the 4-foot-4 pixie to beat. She admits to getting nervous, but you’d have to look hard to see it.
“You have to have nerves to be able to perform,” Johnson said. “It gets your adrenaline going. I’ve always been told by my coaches, ‘If you lose your nerves, you lose the sport.’ ”
Johnson was sensational last year when she won the all-around in every competition she entered, including the Pan American Games and world championships. She also led the U.S. women to a gold medal in the team competition at worlds, thereby providing one of the major story lines for the early days of the Beijing Olympics. China won the silver medal.
Gymnastics fans knew she was coming. Competing as a junior at the 2006 U.S. championships, she outscored Nastia Liukin, who won the U.S. senior title that year.
Johnson may seem mature beyond her years when she competes, but she can be a giddy, star-struck girl away from competition. She and Liukin were thrilled the other day to get their pictures taken in the Olympic Village with Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki of Germany.
“When you’re walking around the village and seeing hundreds and thousands of different athletes, that’s the big difference you really feel. But when the competition comes, it really doesn’t feel like anything’s different,” Johnson said. “You can’t let it, or else those nerves can really hurt you.”
Johnson is the fourth U.S. woman to win the world overall title since 1991, when her idol, Kim Zmeskal, became the first. Now she hopes to become the third American woman to win the Olympic gold. Carly Patterson, who won at the Athens Games four years ago, retired and is pursuing a singing career.
“I learned a lot at my first world championships,” Johnson said. “Of course, I made mistakes. I fell in finals, I fell during prelims. I made mistakes, but I learned how to fix them and grow stronger from them.”
Johnson’s parents put her in a dance class at age 3 to burn off energy because she seemed hyperactive. The club also had a gymnastics program, so she tried that.
“It was just an immediate fit for her,” Teri Johnson said. “I think she really should have, probably, been a boy. She’s very physical.”
A couple years later, a new gym opened closer to where the Johnsons lived, so they switched for the sake of convenience. The owner was Liang Qiao, a former Chinese gymnast who came to the U.S. to coach at the University of Iowa. They’re still together.
“From Day One, ‘Chow’ told us she’s got, as he would say, ‘very much talent,’ ” said Johnson’s father, Doug.
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
New numbers game
When the International Gymnastics Federation decided to replace the scoring system that gave the world the perfect 10 in favor of an open-ended one, Bela Karolyi was outraged. It’s no wonder, given that he coached Nadia Comaneci (1976) and Mary Lou Retton (1984) when they were the personification of perfection at the Olympics.
“I thought, ‘This is craziest, the stupidest thing on earth,’ ” Karolyi said.
The new system incorporates credit for the routine’s content, difficulty and execution. The new scoring procedure adds the difficulty score, which includes difficulty, connection value and element requirements, to the execution score, which encompasses execution, artistry, composition and technique, to determine a total score.
John Meyer, The Denver Post
