Shawn Johnson

Gymnastics taught me everything life lessons responsibility and discipline and respect.

People put too much emphasis on looks.

I live for Pilates reformer class. I go at least three times a week. It's a great way to lengthen your muscles, stretch, and kind of relax your mind.

I have a lot of expectations and a lot of goals I want to fulfill, but the biggest dream is still to make the Olympic team for London.

I was able to do Classics, the U.S. national championships and the Pan American Games and feel like I improved with each meet, but I was still struggling with a lot of residual pain from the two surgeries.

I still can't believe I'm an Olympic athlete.

I need to learn how to face challenges.

When I was 3 my parents put me in gymnastics because I was a bundle of energy and they just didn't know what to do with me! They put me in a Tots class and I just fell in love with it.

It might have been easier to retire, to say my knee couldn't handle it and let that be that. At the same time, the prospect of not being able to compete in gymnastics anymore was heartbreaking.

Gymnastics has made me strong. I feel like it broke me down to my lowest point but at the same time it has given me the greatest strength anyone could ask for.

To finish off this whole Olympics by finally getting the gold medal, it's the best feeling in the world.

To have any doubt in your body is the biggest weakness an athlete can have. There are times when I physically can't get myself to go for a skill because I'm thinking, 'My knee hurts really bad.'

I didn't make it a priority, and as a result my knee didn't heal to the extent it should have.

My approach to gymnastics in Beijing was heavily based on the amount of difficulty I could do.

I had a constant fear, a constant little doubt in my mind: 'OK, I'm getting ready to do my standing back full on beam and I might re-tear my ACL.'

I always feel like I'm the young one, I'm the small one.

Stay strong. Stand up. Have a voice.

I'm trying to stay as calm as possible and focus one day at a time, but when reality sets in, I feel everything: anxiety, excitement, nerves, pressure and joy.

We're taught at such a young age that you can always be better and that you're never perfect and that you're never good enough.

I'm pleased to say my knee feels a lot better. It's still not back to normal, and I don't know if it ever will be, but I'm learning to deal with it instead of expecting it to be like it was before.

I started taking gymnastic classes when I was 3 years old.

With literature, sometimes a book is presented in the media as being say, a Muslim story or an African story, when essentially it's a universal story which we can all relate to it, no matter what race or social background we come from.

Gymnastics taught me everything - life lessons, responsibility and discipline and respect.

Injury taught me I need to learn how to face challenges.

I told myself after 2008 that I was done for good. But they say you can't keep a gymnast away from her sport.

My other life keeps me calm and grounded and normal.

The body is an amazing machine... If you eat the right things your body will perform incredibly well!

People only see gymnastics on TV and in the Olympics at such an extreme. So it can be intimidating.

Gymnastics is not only a good thing to live by but it is important to understand how it does help you in life.

I had surgery to repair the ACL in February 2010 and was back in the gym by June, but rushed things too quickly and ended up re-tearing my MCL in September.

I've never had a teammate competing with me my whole life.

It's about putting in the hours and going through the paces.

My parents- they've been my biggest influences and supporters since day one. They teach me every day that happiness comes from within and not from something outside of your heart.

It sounds funny, but the 2008 Olympics were something that just kind of happened, and I was lucky they came at a point when I was uninjured and well prepared. As a gymnast, you can't ask for much more.

Of course, when you're training your whole life to get to the Olympics, you train for gold.

I don't know where I'm really going to cha cha, but hopefully I can find a place.

It might have been easier to retire to say my knee couldnt handle it and let that be that. At the same time the prospect of not being able to compete in gymnastics anymore was heartbreaking.

Staying healthy and consistent is paramount.

I don't want to be all power and muscle.

My coach, Liang Chow, had one rule while I was training for the 2008 Olympics: no skiing. I could do anything I wanted outside the gym, he said, except ski.

Were taught at such a young age that you can always be better and that youre never perfect and that youre never good enough.

Everything is about your movements and precision and timing which is what gymnastics is about.

I pay attention to my diet to be a healthier gymnast, but I'm not obsessive over it.

When I was younger, my coach, Liang Chow, made all the decisions. I would go to the gym for practice, do exactly what Chow told me to do, go home, come back and start all over again. If Chow told me to do 50 squat jumps, I did 50 squat jumps.

I don't feel like a star; I never have. I don't feel like a star; I never have. I always feel like I'm the young one, I'm the small one. I always have someone to look up to, and I think it helps me with motivating myself.

In some ways the ACL tear was a blessing. I had hesitated to return to elite gymnastics after the 2008 Olympics. I told myself I had already accomplished so much, and the road was just going to get harder if I continued.

Everything is about your movements and precision and timing, which is what gymnastics is about.

A typical practice consists of practicing every event for about an hour. A lot of people assume I have private coaching, but I work out with 13 other girls at the gym!

I started from zero and went back to the basics in gymnastics.

I always have someone to look up to, and I think it helps me with motivating myself.

I usually work out 4 hours a day during the week and 5 to 6 hours on Saturday, with Sundays off.

As long as youve done your best making mistakes doesnt matter. You and I are human we will mess up. What counts is learning from your mistakes and getting back up when life has knocked you down.

A comeback in gymnastics is almost impossible in itself.

I missed being considered an athlete and having that competitive drive, and missed having something to work for every day. I'd taken two and a half years away from the sport and was out of shape. I wanted to get back to where I was in 2008.

I know how much more I need to do to be where I want.

I'm doing four hours of gymnastics training a day, six days a week and then an extra two to three hours in a fitness center as well.

Ive never had a teammate competing with me my whole life.

My knee is almost back to normal. I am back in training.

After 13 years of hard landings in gymnastics, one ski run had delivered the biggest injury of my career.

I was at the Olympic Games winning medals and I still doubted my image. I doubted what I looked like. That's sad.