Five Things About Gymnast Shawn Johnson

In case you missed it, the Olympic games open this Friday, and I am awfully excited to watch. Gymnastics tops my list of events to see, and Shawn Johnson is the gymnast to watch. Not only did she just win a Teen Choice Award for Choice Female Athlete, she also won the women's all-around title in the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Pretty impressive resume for a 16-year-old.

Here are five things to know about Shawn:

1. Her strength training routine doesn't involve weights; instead, she performs classic calisthenics like push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups.
2. Shawn is four feet, nine inches tall and weighs 90 pounds ( a healthy BMI, by the way).
3. She attends high school in Des Moines, Iowa.

For more info and some excellent action shots, read more.

4. Images of Shawn currently appear on Coke and McDonald's products. A butter sculpture of Shawn will appear soon at the Iowa state fair — quite a compliment in the Midwest.
5. She works out four hours a day during the week and six hours on Saturdays. Her workouts generally follow this schedule: Half an hour of conditioning, stretching, and endurance training, then 50 minutes on each of the four events. Her workouts end with focused "extra tricks."