Fact file: Shawn Johnson
Sport: Artistic gymnastics
Born: 19 January 1992
Country: US
Height: 4’ 9”
Weight: 41kg
Nickname: ‘Peanut’, ‘Bubbly’
Gold medal in Beijing Olympics:
Balance beam

Shawn Johnson is young, beautiful, rich and famous. She has an Olympic gold. She’s been on television. She advertises video gymnastics games and she is sponsored by Nike. Shawn Johnson has everything a girl could want. Or has she?

Shawn Johnson was born a gymnast. As soon as she could walk she began climbing the furniture and jumping off tables. She started gymnastics class when she was three and she won the World all-round title when she was fifteen. (An all-around gymnast competes in every event, not just one.)

Everybody was sure she would win the Olympic all-around title at Beijing a year later, but she didn’t. She only won Gold for the Balance Beam. It was her team mate, Nastia Liokin, who won the all-around title.

However, when Shawn got back to America she was famous. You could see her face on chat shows, in advertisements, on bottles of Coca-Cola and on cereal packets. She stopped training and put on weight. In January 2010, she went skiing and hurt her knee. It was a bad accident but it helped her make an important decision. She decided to give up her ‘Hollywood lifestyle’. She wanted to get back to the gym, she wanted to compete in the 2012 Olympics and she wanted to get the all-round title she’d missed in 2008.

It was a brave decision. She had been away from the sport for two years, she had a knee injury and she would be four years older at the time of the Games. She knew it would be difficult:

‘A comeback in gymnastics is almost impossible in itself. Add to it an injury, why would you even try?’

Shawn got back to full training in August 2010, but her knee was not strong enough. In September 2011 the team was chosen for the World Championships, but Shawn was not in the team.

She now has many months of hard training ahead. She does not know whether she will be chosen for the Olympic team or left behind.

‘The hardest thing is not knowing if I’m going to make it.’

Will she be chosen for the team? Will she get her all-around title? Who knows, but if there were medals for bravery, Shawn Johnson would certainly get her Gold!

小编：肖恩·约翰逊，1992年1月生，是美国体操新近崛起的一颗新星，在2007年的全美锦标赛上勇夺个人全能冠军。在北京奥运会上夺得一金三银的好成绩。1995年开始体操训练，师从于中国教练乔良；属于全能型选手，强项是自由体操。在2007年斯图加特体操世锦赛上，初出茅庐的她一鸣惊人，连夺女团、个人全能和自由体操三项冠军，并荣膺当年国际体联最佳体操运动员。她是体操场上一颗耀眼的新星，已成为美国体操队新一代领军人物。