Surrounded by journalists from home and abroad, world all-around "queen" Shawn Johnson kept her warm smile with full confidence on Sunday after the Olympic qualification subdivision.
She said the U.S. gymnastic team will come back with an even stronger performance in the final of the Beijing Olympic Games.
Sunday is not a lucky day for the U.S. gymnasts. The team was dealt a heavy blow ahead of the competition. Only several minutes before gymnasts stepped into the field, Samantha Peszek got injured in her left ankle during warm-up. That reduced the number of healty team members further from five to four. Chellsie Memmel had been injured in her ankle in pre-training.
The girls burst into tears, but finally pulled together and staged a remarkable performance in the preliminary. Among them, Johnson was a striking example as she almost finished all her routines in a stable manner.
When Memmel fell from the uneven bars and Nastia Liukin sat on the mat in landing, Johnson still captured 15.975 points in the next event, balance beam.
"We have overcome many obstacles. I think we have shown the world today that we are strong despite huge destruction. Our performance today is great. We will train even harder in the following few days and come back with a performance stronger than ever in the final," said Johnson.
She added Sunday's experience did some help to the U.S. team to prepare for their final.
"Today we have only four members to practice. Therefore that helped us to prepare for the final as it needs less gymnasts. We did make mistakes, but it is just a preliminary. And we will be stronger in the final."
Asked about how she could be stable in her first Olympics, the 16-year-old girl said, "I tried not to think about it when going out. I tried to get down to my job, focus on the Games and not to let the pressure get me. To be honest, I was standing there and getting very nervous, but I tried to push it away."
Johnson added she did not see other gymnasts' performance, even including those of her teammates, otherwise it would make her nervous. Watching the TV record of her performance did the same. She usually watched the floor during the competition and visualized her routines in mind.
To be in the Olympics is Johnson's long-held dream. "My dream now has come true. If my passion for the sport pushes me for another Olympics, I will do it."
After the second qualification session, Johnson took the first place in women's all-around, but that ranking made her not nervous but more anxious and excited.
"I love to have a title and love to have motivation. It pushes me to come back and fight in all-around competition."
The reigning world champion is also a candidate of vault gold winner in the Beijing Olympics. In the qualification, she was just 0.15 points behind Chinese "vault queen" Cheng Fei.
"Cheng Fei always impressed me. She is so amazing and acts as a huge inspiration for me to continue my practice. I can't wait to compete with her," Johnson said. She has planned to focus on details in her vault training in the following days and get ready for the high-level rivalry.
In the World Championships last year, Johnson emerged as a shining star. She claimed the world title in women's all-around and balance beam.
Johnson also enabled the United States to capture the women's team gold medal at the championships, which was just the second world team title in the U.S. history and the first won at a World Championships held outside her country.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2008)