ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Encouraged by a hit performance at this week's U.S. Championships, Shawn Johnson is tentatively hoping for a trip to Tokyo.
"I'm going for World team now!" a smiling Johnson, bubbly as ever after a six-for-six performance at the U.S. Championships, deadpanned in her perky way. "I'm like all motivated and everything!" Then she turned serious.
"But really, um, they asked me about the World team earlier, and my whole views on that haven't changed. Just because I hit a couple of routines..." she trailed off. "I want to do what's best for the team. Martha [Karolyi] has asked me to come to the prep camp for it. So I'm going to go, I'm going to train, try to add in some difficulty and you know, whatever comes out of that, if it's best for the team for me to be on it, I will take that as the biggest honor. I would love to make the team -- it will make the whole comeback for 2012 a little easier. But you know, one day at a time."
One day at a time, sure. But some days are better than others, and Johnson's two days in St. Paul were certainly an improvement over her comeback debut at the CoverGirl Classic last month. But even Olympic champions have to re-earn their respect after a few years off from competition. Johnson will now set her sights on the World team selection camp at the Karolyi Ranch, where she hopes to be ready to show off some upgraded routines.
"I have a few that are ready," she said. "I've even put them in the routine during practice. I've just kind of played it safe here; we really wanted to hit consistent clean routines. I came in with more difficult routines than I actually competed."
Here's what else Johnson had to say after the meet:
On whether she's gaining confidence:
"It's definitely the case. With each routine I salute and get to compete, I feel more like myself and coming into the last routine of the day and coming into today even after Thursday I felt so excited and so confident and I felt like I could really go out there and hit my routines and not question or wonder what will happen, and I think it will only go up from here."
On new skills she's planning to add:
"I dunno if I can share all of that!" (laughs) "The few skills that I had on the beam at this event, I've been practicing them in the training hall -- I just didn't compete them. I have a switch side half turn, front tuck to sheep jump connection and then a standing full [to] back handspring instead of a standing tuck [to] back handspring. Again, we just have been playing it safe, especially with the knee and everything. We really wanted just clean routines and to show Martha that I can be consistent when she needs me to be."
On what it's like seeing training partner Gabrielle Douglas fall (Douglas fell off balance beam three times on day one and balked twice on her dismount on day two):
"It's really hard, I mean, it's a whole learning experience with Gabby because I've never had a teammate, and my whole competition rule with Chow is you're not allowed to watch other girls, you're not allowed to really focus on what's going on. But it's definitely an exception with her. And it's hard because she's like my sister. I feel for her whenever she falls and I want to be there and to be like, you know what, pick yourself up, you can do it. But I also have to worry about my performance as well, and it's a fine line, but we've been finding a pretty good balance. I was so proud of her -- I told her going into floor 'You made a little mistake on beam, but Martha always wants to see you always be able to pick yourself back up and finish it.' She did."
On her confidence level:
"I came into this week thinking I was just going to like, pass out I was so nervous. But I finished just on cloud nine. I finally feel like I've kind of gotten my groove back with the whole gymnastics competition thing, and being selected back to the national team, it like, brought back tears. And everything -- I just...being back on that team means so much. It's real now. I kept saying, 'It's just a test run, it's just this,' but it's real. Things are going to start happening fast, and it's exciting."
On the crowd:
"Brings me chills. People kept saying after Classics, 'You kind of ruined it for yourself,' but to know that I had made mistakes, I had not lived up to everybody's expectations, to know that I still had that fan base coming into this meet meant the world to me. And to finish up and still have them giving standing ovations and screaming and enjoying every moment, it means a lot. That's what I live for."
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