Shawn Johnson Wins Gold on Balance Beam
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BEIJING — Shawn Johnson finally got her Olympic gold medal in the last event of the women’s competition today, the balance beam.
Johnson nailed her routine that is chock-full of difficult tricks, earning a 16.225. Her grin was a thousand times wider than the 4-inch-wide beam she had just conquered.
The world champion, who already had a silver behind fellow American Nastia Liukin in the all-around, and a silver on floor and in the team event, edged Liukin, who finished with a gold, three silvers, and a bronze.
Cheng Fei of China took the bronze, giving China six women’s medals, two behind America.
