Olympian Gymnast Shawn Johnson's "Last Chance Gold"

Beaming positively as always, Shawn Johnson, U.S. Olympian Gymnast, practiced seven consecutive times before she took the beam for her fourth and final event and chance for a gold medal on Tuesday. Already taking three silver medals home with her, Shawn feels like a winner, but like so many others, she came to Beijing for gold. Here at the event, there was so much tension and expectation in the place around her, but she didn't seem to notice. Nerves are not her weakness, as she has told reporters in the past, and she showed the world, as she placed every skill perfectly, solidly on the beam. It was a balance-check free routine, as the 4'9" wonder delivered the best beam performance of the event. With her beautifully executed finish and landing, she grinned, a gold medal smile! Her score, finally, was excellent, and she smiled bigger, her excitement growing.

There were, however, several more athletes to take the beam, including her challenging teammate, Nastia Liukin. Shawn's face, though, was glowing. It was almost as if she knew she had already won. In her uplifted spirit by her almost perfect routine, she was already a winner. She had done what she came to do. Despite the overshadowing of recent events here of the scoring debates and age controversies, Shawn had always kept smiling. She had kept performing at her best. She had kept dreaming of that gold medal around her neck, just as she had dreamed back home, working all those hours day after day, in the gym with only coach watching.

So, the athletes kept coming up to their turn to perform. One by one, they were not able to score as high as Shawn. Balance checks, not the same start value, they just weren't as good as Shawn Johnson. Then there was Nastia. She is an incredible gymnast, and although she won the gold in the all-around competition, her beam routine fell just short of Shawn's. Though Shawn waited and paced through the other gymnast's routines, she smiled. She grinned with a thumbs up.