Shawn Johnson is only 14, but she's already being compared to the United States' first female all-around world champion gymnast, Kim Zmeskal.

A freshman at Valley Southwoods (West Des Moines, Iowa) High, Johnson's stock shot up in August when she was crowned Junior National Champion with a score (124.100) that also topped all senior contestants.

"Zmeskal is my role model," Johnson said. "She's my favorite gymnast. But I never tried to copy her."

Legendary coach Bella Karolyi, who directed Zmeskal to the world title in 1991, believes Johnson is practically a clone. "She's the same size [4-foot-6, 85 pounds] and has the same confidence," he said. "She even has her moves and expressions. In my 40 years of coaching, I never saw two individuals more alike."

Karolyi and his wife, Martha, who selects and coaches the USA team at the Women's National Team Training Center in Houston, began working with Johnson when she was 13. "I'll never forget that first training camp," Karolyi said. "There was a very, very lovely incident. She just spoke up: 'I've been here for over an hour and I haven't seen Bella yet!'

"Her personality jumped in my eye. Her physical abilities are very good, but her greatest trait is her personality. She has a lovely, confident smile on her face. She is disciplined and relates to everyone. I'd say she has all the chances in the future."

Zmeskal, who owns Texas Dreams Gymnastics in Coppell, Texas, along with her husband, Chris Burdette, said: "I feel very fortunate to have been around her for almost two years. She's a super-fierce competitor. There definitely is a connection, but I'm almost timid to say it because I'm complimenting myself.

"It's been really fun to watch her. It almost made me cry [when she won the Junior Nationals]. If she stays on the same path that she is on right now, she has a super chance [to make the 2008 Olympic team.]"

Kathy Kelly, vice president of programs for USA Gymnastics, calls the teenage phenom "amazing. She's got a brain [straight-A student] cooking back there. She has a plan. She's just like a little sponge -- a very unique individual. I see wonderful things for her in gymnastics and life."

En route to the national title, Johnson won gold medals in the balance beam, floor exercise and vault. She took silver in the bars. She followed up that brilliant performance by winning gold in the all-around competition and on the balance beam at the Junior Pan American Championships in Ottawa, Canada. She added silver in uneven bars and floor exercise -- all in just her fifth international competition.

Former Olympic champion Mary Lou Retton made the presentation to Johnson at the Junior Nationals. "It was really cool," Johnson said. "It was overwhelming to have her give me my gold medal."

"She's a little spitfire," said Retton. "She reminded me of 20 years ago. She's a little image of me. She's got the full package -- powerful and energetic. She has that smile and everybody loves her. She's definitely going to be in Beijing."

Johnson says her defining moment came the day she qualified for international elite competition in the summer of 2005. She was at the Region 4 Qualifier in Milwaukee and had to get an 8.6 score in the uneven bars, her final event. She had a bad dismount and sweated it out until they announced her score: 8.65.

Pandemonium followed as she ran to her mom and teammates and gave everybody a hug, then started to cry.

"I was just overwhelmed and overjoyed," she said.

Her mother, Teri, recalls her daughter bursting with energy from the day she was born. "We tried other things [besides gymnastics] and nothing seemed to suit her," she said. "She needed a lot of movement. She used to stack furniture up and jump off of it. She gets that adrenaline rush from her dad. He wrestled, played hockey and a lot of other things. He broke a lot of bones."

The Johnsons put Shawn in an Urbandale recreational class, which featured dance and gymnastics, when she was 3. "I think she still was in diapers," Teri said. When Shawn was 6, she joined Qiao Gymnastics and was coached by Liang Qiao, a former Chinese national team member and assistant at the University of Iowa, and his wife, Liwen Zhuang.

"I couldn't have hand-picked anybody better," Teri said of the Qiaos. "They are just incredible people. She calls them her second set of parents."

"They are the best coaches anybody can have," Shawn says. "They don't have me do extreme hours and they always make us feel safe."

Shawn took to gymnastics like a duck to water.

"It's always come a little easy to me, but no matter what you have to work hard," she said, adding that the balance beam always has been her favorite, even though she considers it the toughest event. "Just thinking about flipping on a four-inch beam is amazing."

She has been surprisingly injury free in a dangerous sport. There always are going to be falls, though. "Gymnastics is about falling," she says. "You get up and do it again. You get frustrated, but you try not to get mad and fix it."

Shawn trains four hours each evening Monday through Friday and five hours on Saturday. Most other members of the national team put in 10-15 hours more per week. Teri is pleased Shawn's coaches are not burning her out but says the schedule is "kind of hard on the family. I miss her, because even when she's in town, she's training."

"It's hard to give up social time with friends and family," Shawn said. "But it's only two years until the Olympics. After that, I can have all the time I want."