Nastia Liukin vs. Shawn Johnson (1) : 2007 Visa Championships

it's a bad ankle and for the two-time defending US champion NASA leukin it's just one of her issues the others maybe bigger ones are her age and her competition in this NeverEnding battle to find the new kid on the gymnastics block this is 15-year-old Shawn Johnson almost there almost there almost who in the Olympic picture could be peing at a better time the plan for Nastia has always been win an Olympic medal just like her dad did 20 years before but as her date with Destiny draws within a year the wear and tear of preparation and Par and teenager relationship may be taking its toll that's is a very fragile gymnast she's not physically strong so I have to be very careful with her you I have to count and you know the turns and make some careful planning and stuff I'm not afraid of the work right now because we really do need that at this point that was a weak even you're going over and on the on the floor you just try to Exhale too early exhale after when you enhance and then you can push it over it's exactly your problem is you land on your butt so what it was high but what good does it do that high my dad's voice you know comes into my my head a lot just thinking about during practice all those little mistakes that he always tells me throughout my routine I feel like um if I you know 2006 when I did have that mistake I was I was upset and then you know it's It's upsetting I know for my dad too because he's worked so hard with me and you know for me so I feel like I've kind of disappointed myself and him at the same [Music] time I still feel like that baby the group I'm the newcomer so I feel a little behind it doesn't put too much pressure on me but if I do well then they're just everybody's just like wow so it's exciting yes I like that one I like that one a little bit more feet I think that was a very nice one today one dream collides with another as the girl from West Mo Iowa tries to prove herself against another who's been dealing with fate and destiny Beijing in less than a year for one it may be just right for the other it may be too [Music] far any I'd say one thing is I really don't have like a title to defend I mean I'm just earning it and trying to work for it that is our stylized look at the story of this 2007 Visa championships Shawn Johnson will be 16 when the Olympics hit in 2008 that's perfect in the Gymnastic World nasty leukin will be 18 that is not necessarily ideal in the world of women's gymnastics we welcome you to the HP Pavilion in San Jose California Al trout with Tim daget and Elfie Schlagel how will it all play out as Nas ukin deals with a nagging ankle injury for more than a year and sha Johnson just deals with maybe peing at the right time that is what will play out here we'll start things off with sha Johnson on the uneven bars and some might look at her resume Tim and Elie and say wait a minute what has this woman won she hasn't won a national Championship why does she deserve all of this attention well last year she was a junior they compete with the exact same rules and her score was higher than nukin who was the senior all-around Champion frequently two years away from the Olympic Games you see stars like this emerge and don't forget that Shawn won the American Cup this year she's just come off the Pan-American games Win she says she still feels like a baby and really you know not the leader of the team but tell you what she is she is going to be a leader next year and really what she excels at she is such a daredevil this Dismount only a handful in the world can do this double twisting double wow we've got a few different story lines here one we've got the individual dreams and hopes and we've got the Olympics obviously in 2008 but this NE John Johnson gets a 15.3 in this new world of gymnastics score Germany for the World Championships n leuk you see that her ankle is taped there and this has become a major thing for her yeah she has not competed on four events since this competition last year it has been such an upand down battle for her she had surgery after she got home from the world championships in November and it was doing very well in May she thought it was just about perfect and it flared up again big problems hasn't been able to train do the numbers anywhere near the numbers that she would have liked to on some of the punishing events like Flor exercising vating but that right there very very good she was a little off but held on in fact at the Pan-American game she was a specialist there so she's really only had 3 weeks to train all four events that's very tough to do coming in to a national championship but a healthy NASA lukin she is uh an amazing athlete all over the world the gymnastics experts just marvel at everything that she does her body line the Precision that she works if she's healthy look out skills like that taking her Focus off the beam very risky I mean everything she does it's beautiful it's clean it's precise she has an incredible Artistry and as you mentioned Tim that's what the judges are looking for this Dismount coming up has been a little bit difficult for her triple twist oh and that was that was not good right there she's supposed to completely turn her body around make three [Music] twists nukin gets a 15.6 you know that's a big score out night one of the 2007 Visa National Championship continues now this is the first time at the senior level for Shawn Johnson she didn't seem to be bothered by it at all you know unfazed by it all and I am so amazed to watch her in this Arena and the bigness of the national championships but you know the scary thing is she's going going on to bigger gymnastics and could potentially score extremely high on the next three events and you know guys both of you can talk about timing Tim your body didn't cooperate when you tried to go for a second Olympics lfie politics didn't cooperate with your Olympic dream and here it is it's just about age for her and she had nothing to do with it yeah sometimes you got to be lucky but she's also a lot more than lucky you know she has some of the most difficult in fact the most difficult Beamer team planned in the Championships and I have to say it's probably the most difficult routine in the world look at this it's like ridiculous from start to [Applause] finish giant gymnastic skill for this tiny little gymnast from Iowa she told us that it probably is a bigger deal for her Beijing and competing in China both of her coaches who she's been with forever Chinese gymnast on the national team over [Music] there timy you handed me this quote she said they call us the survivors of our sport because it pushes you to your physical and mental limits that's from a 15-year-old and you know she's spending so many hours in the gym every day throughout the week and she tells us that the most difficult thing is staying focused and committed to her gymnastics and she better here she struggled on this this morning no problem there very difficult full twisting double somersault that routine it is wall [Applause] [Music] toall Sean Johnson has vaulted forward with a 15.75 Nas leukin after a 15.6 on the balance beam saw her a couple of weeks ago at a gymnastics camp she still told me she hadn't been doing any of the tumbling this is a huge [Music] test [Music] oh yeah yellow flag she steps out of bounds and cannot believe she didn't sit that [Music] down [Music] he [Music] [Applause] well it's unfortunate but at this level the moment the routine is over the focus is often not on what went right but what went wrong and she had actually a lot going wrong towards the end looked exhausted that maybe they just rushed it a little bit too much and we get wor that NASA lukin's application to change her score worked she gains a tenth of a point so score one for her and her dad Midway point of the first night of competition for the Visa championships now after a Ed 14.4 that was upgraded after the appeal from her dad Nas leukin wants to try and catch up to Shawn Johnson here she's heard all this all the stuff she knows what Shawn Johnson is and and how Shawn Johnson is challenging her throne and you know I think that the first Vault she did on the hard ground since she's been injured was here on this Podium and the first one she did it was scary I got to tell you and she's way up way high on the vating table you know it's funny when we first came on the air tonight we showed a shot from her gym where her father valer said to her you're really high but what good does it do you how did she not sit down it's it's amazing but that is a that is a devastating number for nasty Alin wow and a huge opportunity now for Shawn Johnson to really slam that door that's partially open wide open well she herself describes in her own words I'm a daredevil with a big [Applause] [Music] smile [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Applause] n right to the [Music] edge I'll tell you what this kid is from Central Casting where the director calls up and says send me a gymnast who looks like a world champion this is who comes knocking at the door and five great tumbling passes and look at she's still smiling that's exhausting heading to the fourth rotation of night one it's been the Shawn Johnson show so far and she's actually capable of doing an even more difficult Vault this is about as hard as it gets in women's gymnastics a double twisting your tanle she is capable of doing a 2 and a half twist isn't going to do it night one says she'll do it day two easy yeah very easy for her John Johnson 15.2 she maintains the lead you know it's written all over her face she knows exactly the gravity of this situation she needs to salvage something out of this first night well this bar routine is exceptional to say the least this routine could value in the 7.1 in terms of the difficulty if you add in a perfect execution score she could score 17 it's that big go watch this right here a full and a half turn right into a release phenomenal at those handstand she's just [Music] perfect all week long she has been doing bar routine after bar routine and honestly this is like one and a half routines for everybody else it is so long it is by far the most difficult bar routine in the world this is relatively a new Dismount double front oh oh man W just an absolutely beautiful paragraph with a bad period at the end you n leukin of 15.35 even with the bad landing you do the math you think that the 2-year reign of NASA leukin is over but that may not be what we're here to see we may be here to see what is her response to a night the first night when almost everything went wrong and almost everything went right for a 15-year-old who'll be 16 in the Olympic year and that's just about perfect well here's Shawn Johnson how's she going to handle this how's she going to handle being the person now the leader after night one I don't I don't think you'll see any difference in her gymnastics after the first night she actually loves being in that position and so far it's all going very right for [Music] her it's not easy to start on the beam big big big skill right here back with a full wow incredible you know I don't think it matters where you put her up in the competition because she is so well Tred now most of the athletes here are doing two workouts a day a morning a late afternoon she practices once a day for 5 hours that's it that's barely a wobble yeah she looks like she's on the floor now if there's a place that she's shown any type of struggle while she's been in San Jose it's on the Dismounts very difficult only one in the competition to do it a full twisting double right here hey she looks like she's ready for everything and you know her coach child came up to me right before the meet began and he said not bad for the first time joh Johnson in a runaway leading here in San Jose California with a 16.1 now Nasi leukin Elfie what do we mean when we say it's not perfect timing for her to be 18 in the Olympic year as opposed to 16 well you know she's done a lot of gymnastics she's been out on the international scene a lot longer than Shawn Johnson and her body has been through so much training and the high level of competition so she's just wearing down a little bit Tim what do you predict for her well Al this is her biggest challenge the floor exercise with that injured [Music] ankle [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh oh my [Music] wow it was such a huge improvement from night one up until the very end she looked really tired going into that last pass they should have taken that last element out too 13.75 that is not the beginning of a comeback Johan Johnson the would be National Champion absolutely sticking it on the balance beam now sha Johnson the leader and it's a Runway and she just keeps smiling her way through [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] John johnon John [Music] [Applause] getting through it without a problem 15.35 here on the Vault where she fell as we saw in warm-up this is hard for her better than night one but still a huge squat on the landing and stepping off to the side resigned to just somehow getting through this and this right here is an absolute walk in the park for Shawn Johnson she's so powerful so Dynamic she gets through this one then she has one [Music] [Applause] left beautiful explosive you know if she's going to improve in any little area obviously she just needs to stick it now 15.15 now Nazi ukin has two chances to save her night first one comes right now on the uneven Bo and of course we know that this is her best event probably the hardest bar routine in the world after she fell on night one she was back in the gym and guess what doing a new Dismount gets really tricky right here full and a half turn into a big [Applause] Poli she flies High she has a beautiful line perfect toe Point she goes from that high bar to the low bar it's like like just like on a playground playing it's awesome so here comes the new Dismount she added a half turn right here why didn't she do that night one that is what Champions [Applause] do well actually she has been protecting that ankle when you do a half turn when you come in backwards it's a little bit more force on the ankle they were trying to protect it but they made the right choice there Ste leukin but what she did on the uneven bars a few minutes ago got everybody's attention as she battles back from her ankle injury sha Johnson this will be her last event and crowning her as the new national champion and onward and upward to bigger and better things she will be like you said the national champion in a couple of weeks could easily be world champion she doesn't do the hardest bar routine but she certainly does the hardest bar Dismount double twisting double that's it it's official John Johnson there getting a 15.3 all right here's Nas leukin looking to end her night the way she did a few minutes ago on the uneven bars triumphantly and she can do that she can end on such a high note right here she's made changes throughout the competition she has one small change that she's made on her Dismount here as well you know she told us that she doesn't like to focus only on the Olympic Games but this year she says has been it's been very very difficult and ironically she says just thinking about all the time the 15 years I've put into it and that the Olympics are only one year away that is what's gotten her through she also says that her mother has been a really big help she was the 87 world champion in rhythmic gymnastics missed the 88 Olympic Games because of an illness and she said NASA you never want to look back and think what could have happened you need to go for it so in the first night she she did a triple twist Dismount and did not complete it stumbled forward we've seen her warm up just a 2 and a half but still very challenging that's a world champion and she reminds us how she got there so the final standings tell us that Shawn Johnson wins by 3.45 and nasty leukin battles back to finish on the podium and I just came in here um wanted to have fun of course and just wanted to do what I do at home and just practice and hit my routines and I did I I never imagin this and you had to walk right past Mary Lou Retton right after your Vault what was going through your mind oh my gosh it's Mary Lou but um I just I don't know it's such an honor to see here and have her be here and you've been compared to her and you've been compared to Kim Z Mescal and you've won everything you could possibly win in your first year as a senior pretty headyy stuff what's it like to be you right now great but kind of like dream like I mean I I still can't believe but I've gone to American Cup pams and now Visa championships and I've won and it's just it's a it's all a dream so

Channel: Constance

Views: 844,049

Keywords: Nastia Liukin (Olympic Athlete), Shawn Johnson (Author), Gymnastics (Sport), 2007 Visa Championships, USA Gymnastics National Championships

Id: 2nMEAjB1lY0

Length: 28min 10sec (1690 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 24 2013