Johnson One Step Closer to Decision on Gym

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Shawn Johnson is working her way towards a comeback decision

By the end of this year, Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson plans to make a definitive decision regarding her future plans, and whether they will include competitive gymnastics. At an informal press conference this evening at the American Airlines Center, Johnson said her plan is to continue workouts with a her hired personal trainer for the next three months in order to get back into competitive training shape, and then return to gymnastics training in October to gauge her abilities and her level of passion for the sport.

Working at gymnastics camps this summer, Johnson said she played around in the gym but didn’t perform high level skills. “I hate it that I can’t just go and chuck a double pike,” she joked, going on to explain that she had tumbled and played around on beam but hadn’t tackled any of the high-level tricks she’s known for.

Johnson is on hand in Dallas to watch tonight’s senior women’s finals and to be recognized with her 2008 Olympic teammates for their medal-winning performance in Beijing. “It gives you goose bumps,” Johnson said of walking in the arena and seeing the podium, noting that it felt weird to not be in a warm-up and leo in this environment. She was wearing a trendy blouse, black leggings and rocked stylish gladiator sandals with four-inch high heel shoes that elevated her 4 foot 11 frame another several inches! (She says she’s grown “at least” three inches since winning gold.)

Living the life of a Hollywood celebrity since her gold medal-winning performance, Johnson has been out of the gym, but not the limelight. Following her winning turn on Dancing with the Stars, Johnson has been working the award show and movie premiere circuit and has become a red carpet regular in Los Angeles and has made appearances on multiple television shows, including upcoming gigs on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and a return appearance on The Secret of the American Teenager.

And the entertainment opportunities keep rolling in for Johnson, now a certified celebrity, all of which could play a factor in her decision to return to the gym, or not. Most important, at least to Johnson herself, is that she wants to feel confident that, should she return to the sport that made her a star, her gymnastics would be at the same world-class level she left at, and that she was still enjoying every step of the process.

“I’m the kind of person that I’m not going to come back if I’mnot betterthan I was,” Johnson said emphatically.

If her time on reality TV turned Johnson into a dancing machine—and taught her to walk in sky-high heels, “hey I had to dance in these every week,” she joked of her finesse in stilettos—maybe her time tonight in a National Championships environment (which she twice won at the Senior level) will make her nostalgicfor her roots. In fact, before the competition even started, Johnson had already tweeted "Getting ready to watch the seniors compete... WOW feels so weird being a spectator... Don't know if I like it?"

Photo by Grace Chiu

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