On January 19, 1992 Shawn Machel Johnson sprang to life.  Well actually, she didn’t spring for a little bit.  Shawn was born with an APGAR score of  0.  It took a short while before she got the hang of things, but boy once she did get going she took off and hasn’t slowed down since.  Shawn walked at 9 months without ever taking the time to crawl.  She was doing pull-ups in her playpen and climbing out of her baby bed long before she was a year old.

At the age of three Shawn tried dance class, although dance didn’t suit her as it wasn’t near physical enough.  Out of desperation, the next attempt to find a release for Shawn’s energy was a gymnastics class.  BINGO.

Interestingly enough, Shawn’s first gymnastics coach claimed Shawn had little talent, just a lot of brute strength.  Thankfully, that experience was short lived.  Rumor had it that a new gym had opened very close to home.  Shawn started at Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance within 60 days of the doors opening.  They had yet to develop a pre-team or team, so Shawn got to be on the ground floor of their pre-team and then team.  Shawn’s coaches, Liang Qiao (Chow) and Liwen Zhuang (Li) could not have been a better fit had they been hand picked.

Memorable moments in Shawn’s gymnastics career have been Level 9 balance beam champion, Level 10 Iowa’s Gymnast of the year, Level 10 balance beam champion and making the J.O. National team, and qualifying to Junior International Elite status on her first attempt.

In 2007, Johnson entered the senior division, and continued to showcase new skills, including a laidout double twisting double dismount off bars. She competed at the 2007 Tyson American Cup where she won the All-Around, beating out all other American U.S. Senior Elites. She was also very successful in the 2007 Pan American Games, winning four gold medals (in the team finals, the individual all-around, and the balance beam and uneven bar finals) and one silver in the floor exercise final, making her the most successful gymnast of the games. She won the 2007 Visa National Championships, beating two-time National Champion Nastia Liukin (who was returning from an ankle injury) by more than 5 points, and Shayla Worley (who was also recovering from injury) by more than 3 points. She represented the U.S. in the World Championships, with teammates Nastia Liukin, Shayla Worley, Alicia Sacramone, Ivana Hong, and Samantha Peszek. The team placed first with 184.400 points, 0.95 point ahead of the silver medal Chinese team. Johnson competed on all four apparatus for the team competition. She went on to win the all-around competition with a score of 61.875.

Shortly after Shawn returned from the 2007 World Championships, she suffered the first injury of her senior elite career. She suffered a stress reaction in her right leg which, left untreated can lead to a stress fracture. She wore a cast for a few days and then had it replaced by a walking boot. She wore that for a few weeks, and scaled down her training. After that point, the injury was healed. She considers herself very lucky that that was the only injury that came out of the 2007 season.

Shawn competed in the American Cup on March 1st, 2008. It was a very good meet for her, and an opportunity to attempt new elements she has been working on. After a fall on her new 2 1/2 twisting Yurchenko vault (15.175), but a solid bars, beam, and floor routine, she was beat out of the all-around by 2 time American Cup Champion (2005-2006) Nastia Liukin. Yet she still placed second by .375, it marks her first defeat as a senior international elite gymnast. But aside from that, Shawn is a major contender for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Shawn has a passion for school and sets very high expectations for herself.  While math is her best subject, English is her favorite.  She has quite a flair for putting ink to paper. 

At the 2008 Summer Olympics Johnson competed in all four events during the team competition, in which the United States won the silver medal. Johnson also won the silver medal in the individual all-around competition, receiving a score of 62.725.Johnson's teammate and roommate at the Olympic Village, Nastia Liukin, won the gold medal, receiving a score of 63.325. With Liukin taking gold and Johnson silver, this competition was the first time that the United States Women's Gymnastics team took both the gold and silver medals in the individual all-around competition; this competition also marks only the fourth time any country has won both the gold and silver medals in the individual all-around competition. She won the silver medal in floor exercise, with teammate Liukin taking bronze. She did, however, win a gold medal on the balance beam apparatus. Like the individual all-around, she and Liukin took the top two medals in this event.

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