Beijing, China — Shawn Johnson will have four chances at Olympic gold.
And she’s going to be greedy about it.
Johnson was the leading all-around women’s gymnast today in a qualifying round that left the U.S. team wounded, shaky and resolved to compete harder and better throughout the finals.
“We want to see the USA at the top,” Johnson said.
“We were thrown into a huge distraction, but we overcame a lot today,” Johnson said.
“We went out and proved that even if we make mistakes we can come back.”
Johnson, 16, the reigning world champion from West Des Moines, was the only American who landed four solid routines. In addition to the team and all-around finals, she qualified for the individual balance beam and floor exercise finals.
She scored 62.725 points with a 16.000 score on vault, 15.325 on uneven bars, 15.975 on balance beam and 15.425 on floor exercise.
“I feel like I still have a lot to give,” Johnson said. “I want to go out there, play it smart and give it my all.”
Her coach, Liang Chow of West Des Moines, who is also the U.S. team head coach, had Johnson play it safe today, skipping one of her difficult skills on floor exercise and not pushing any risky new moves.
“We were being conservative,” Chow said. “We were being smart.”
But in the finals, Johnson will go all out.
“We’re going to go out there and fight,” Johnson said.
Chow hinted that the world hasn’t seen everything his star can do yet.
“Both the American and Chinese teams must have secret weapons which they leave until the last,” he said.
If Johnson, who will be a junior at Valley High School, medals in four events, she will be one of the country’s most decorated women’s gymnasts.
Only two Americans have scored four or more medals in a single Olympics — Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and Shannon Miller in 1992.
Johnson’s biggest threat for all-around gold will be her Olympic Village roommate, Nastia Liukin, who ranked second with 62.375 points.
“I have predicted the outcome,” Johnson said. “Either me first, her second or her first, me second.
“Both of us hoped and prayed that when this day came we were one and two.
Whether it was her first or me first, it didn’t matter. We wanted to see USA on top.”
But of course, each wants to win.
“We are both going for the gold,” Johnson said. “You don’t work to go for a silver.”
Yilin Yang of China ranked third at 62.350 and Ksenia Semenova of Russia fourth at 61.475.
Johnson ranked second to China’s Shanshan Li in floor exercise and third behind China’s Fei Cheng and Romania’s Sandra Izbasa on balance beam.
“Shawn had a great start,” Chow said. “We’ve got a long road ahead of us, but today she demonstrated her routines in a nice, high-quality way.”
Johnson said the team was in tears over Peszek’s injury just before it marched into the arena.
“We were shaken up,” Johnson said. “But we pulled ourselves together.”
The first two gymnasts to compete for the U.S., Bridget Sloan and Alicia Sacramone, stepped out of bounds with both feet for big deductions and had shaky floor exercise routines.
Chellsie Memmel, who injured an ankle last week training in Beijing, fell on the bars.
So did Liukin, usually a bars star, who stumbled and rolled onto her back on her dismount.
“I’m not disappointed at all,” Chow said. “We made some mistakes today, but this is only a start. I believe the girls will do better.”
Johnson insisted the team will be fine.
“We can’t let anything affect us,” she said. “We got all our nerves out today, and we’ll come back even stronger.”
