The Olympic gymnastics competition began with a disappointment for Team USA, but it ended with American women’s gymnastics looking as strong as ever.

Shawn Johnson won a gold medal on the balance beam yesterday, giving the 16-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, her first gold in the last event of the Olympics. Nastia Liukin had previously won gold in the individual all-around, and the Americans also had five silver medals (one in the team competition, two for Johnson and two for Liukin) and a bronze for Liukin.

The American women’s eight-medal tally surpassed any total they had since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, where they also had eight. That year Team USA greatly benefited from most of the best gymnasts in the world staying home in the Soviet-led boycott. But this year the American women won eight medals while competing against top gymnasts from everywhere, including a strong Chinese squad that, in the eyes of many observers, benefited from judges who erred on the side of rewarding the home team. Despite the questionable judging — and the questionable birth certificates of some of China’s gymnasts — the Americans had two more women’s gymnastics medals than the Chinese.

Quite simply, with Johnson and Liukin leading the way, the American women had their most impressive Olympic gymnastics performance ever.

Although all of the medals have now been awarded, that performance doesn’t end until today, with the Gymnastics Gala, in which the women show off their best moves without judges at the tables or gold on the line. The Gala is really not a sporting event at all — it’s more like an opportunity for the teenagers who have competed during the last week to let loose the way they want, and not the way the strict judging of the International Gymnastics Federation demands. It is, for those who like the grace of gymnastics more than the competition, the best part of the games.

The Gala is also the last time the vast majority of viewers will see the gymnasts who competed in these Olympics. The window of opportunity closes quickly on gymnastics careers, and Olympic gymnasts generally get only one chance. Johnson, however, has indicated in recent days that she would like to return for the Olympics in London in 2012, and after her gold medal-winning balance beam routine, Johnson referred to the Beijing Games as “my first Olympics.”

She’s certainly capable of returning. Johnson earned a gold medal and three silvers despite looking jittery and nervous at times, and with more experience she might be even better when she’s 20.

For all the talk during these games about the Chinese getting an unfair advantage with their youth, the 33-year-old Oksana Chusovitina of Germany, who won her first Olympic medal in 1992, the year Johnson was born, just won a silver medal in the vault. Olympic gymnastics isn’t only a sport for young girls.

Nonetheless, it is still a sport that favors youth, so Johnson could be finished, and the 18-year-old Liukin probably is, too. After their swan song in the gala, Johnson and Liukin will return home from Beijing as the best pair of American gymnasts who ever competed together.

Mr. Smith is a writer for Fanhouse.com.