I admire Shawn Johnson's talent.
More than that, I admire her determination.
She set a goal to win gold in the Olympics and she didn't give up.
BEIJING -- The last night of gymnastics saw head to head competition one last time between Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson on the balance beam. Nastia Liukin is the reigning world champ on beam, but Shawn Johnson is capable of equally high scores so the results were bound to be tight.
By the time Shawn Johnson mounted the beam, the gold medal was hers for the taking as the previous competitors had suffered small stumbles and subsequent low scores.
She has a collection of three silver medals from this Olympic games and although she'll tell you - through tears - that she's proud of herself and her silver medal, it was clear that she was desperate for a gold medal from these games.
Nastia Liukin went after Shawn and although her beam routine was nearly flawless, minus the step on the landing, her start value was lower and she couldn't match Shawn's score of 16.225, coming up two tenths short with a score of 16.025.
I look forward to watching the competition tonight and examining the consistency or inconsistency of the scoring.
Was the judging as screwed up for the balance beam competition as it was for the other events?
In any event, I am happy that Shawn Johnson, 16, will be coming home from Beijing as an Olympic gold medalist, like her teammate and friend, Nastia Liukin.
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