Shawn Gets Her Turn

In this last big individual event for women's artistic gymnastics, it was finally Shawn Johnson's turn. She had come in second in the All Around, and second on Floor. Beam is one of her team mates' specialties (Nastia out scored Shawn on Beam in the All Around), and Cheng Fei was the local favorite for the gold. Despite all that pressure, Shawn pulled off an amazingly solid Beam routine. Nastia performed her usual magic on Beam too. While Nastia slightly edged out Shawn on execution (9.4 vs 9.2), Shawn's higher start value (7.0 vs 6.6) gave her the .2 advantage. The USA took the gold and silver again, like in the All Around, but this time swapping who took the gold.

In all, Nastia had an excellent Olympics. Silver in the team competition, Gold in the All Around. Silver on Bars, Silver on Beam and Bronze on Floor. Five Olympic medals is a pretty impressive haul. Shawn did her share too, bringing home the second of two gold medals for the USA in gymnastics. Gold on Beam, Silver on Floor, Silver in the All Around, and Silver for team.

All this great gymnastics seems like a good way to start out this next season with the OTW Team. Go Girls!