Shawn Johnson Finally Gets Her Gold
Shawn Johnson by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
It came down to the last event of women's gymnastics, but
Shawn Johnson finally is an Olympic champion. The West Des Moines, Iowa, teen had a stellar balance beam routine to win the event ahead of her teammate, all-around champ
Nastia Liukin,
16.225 16.025. "She looks like a kid on the best of Christmas mornings," Al Trautwig said of her magical smile at the medal ceremony. Johnson was one of the biggest gold-medal hopes coming into Beijing, so it was a disappointment to win "only" three silvers (team, individual and floor exercise). While some might consider this gold to be huge redemption for the reigning world champion, she says
she's proud of all her medals: "I would never trade one of my silvers for gold. What I went through to get them is very special to me and really touched my heart."
On the other end of the scale, American men's gymnast Jonathan Horton was considered something of an underdog. But after
leading the U.S. to team bronze he capped his Games Tuesday with a sterling horizontal bar performance. "What more can you ask for?" he wondered out loud after the routine, which held up for the silver medal.
Things didn't go quite so well for two heavily favored American runners at the Bird's Nest.
Sanya Richards, rankd No. 1 in the 400 meters, caught a cramp in the homestretch and looked on in disbelief as Great Britain's Christine Ohurugu (49.62) and Jamaica's Shericka Williams (49.69) sprinted ahead,
relegating her to bronze, in 49.93, more than a second slower than her career best. "I wanted the gold more than anything, but it wasn't meant to be," she said after the race.
NBC's Ato Boldon called that "the upset of the Games so far," but moments later, disaster left another favorite in shock. In the
100-meter hurdles world indoor champion Lolo Jones was in the lead when she clipped the ninth barrier and completely lost her stride. She hopelessly watched the field fly by, and lay in disbelief at the finish line. "I felt the gold around me," she told trackside reporter Bob Neumeier. "The hurdles were coming up so fast." Jones' unheralded teammate
Dawn Harper was the surprise beneficiary, coming across the line in first, the only woman in the field to run a personal best.
He Chong won the
men's springboard, looking "crazy good," according to NBC's Cynthia Potter. China now has won six of the eight diving gold medals, with only the men's and women's platform events remaining.
And finally, if the late nights of Olympic TV are getting to you, you'll appreciate Matt Roush's dispatch
here.
