OlderWed, 20 August 2008 at 11:15 pm
Shawn Johnson is Gold Glorious
USA gymnast Shawn Johnson came up big on the balance beam and won gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing on Tuesday. Her score of 16.225 bested teammate Nastia Liukin who scored 16.025. Cheng Fei of China came in third at 15.95.
The U.S. and China came away as the top two performing countries in women’s gymnastics at this year’s Olympics.
Also pictured below is Nastia Liukin winning her gold medal in the women’s all-around competition last week. Did you know she’s only 5′3″? Her legs make her seem way taller!
FYI: Shawn Johnson is technically a dwarf, coming in at 4′9″ (4′10″ or shorter is the standard).
10+ pictures of Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin getting gold glorious…
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Women stop growing at all around 20 or 21 years old… and “technically” because of their height, ALLI do not know also what effect the gymnastics have in the body of people who practice it for hours since a young age, but the girls at the important tournamets tend to be smaller.
From yahoo:
Svetlana Boguinskaia and Svetlana Khorkina are considered tall for a gymnast and they’re both right around 5′4″. Check out the last link below, Maria Olaru retired because the new code of points was not suited to her height and she’s only 5′3″.
Maybe because this is an sport where shorter people have an advantage, as in basketball long legs and arms are an advantage versus shorter people, even if they were fast.
That’s what I love from theOlympics, there is an sport that fits every body type, you can see long lean women jumping and then small thicker people lifting great weights, the giants at basketball and the skinny guys at marathon or walking long distances.
Congratulations to the winners, such dedication at such young age is incredible, and I still miss when there was a younger age limit, Nadia Comaneci at 14 in Montreal 76 would have been too young to participate, can you imagine?
sorry, I meant and “technically” because of their height, ALL children are “dwarfs” :P . .. continues…
I think Ms. Cullen’s point is this: even though JJ is just a mere blogger, ignorance and insensitivity are inexcusable. The dwarf thing did not have to be highlighted by the FYI afterthought. And yeah, she’s tiny, but really, it seems irrelevant to her performance. Many gymnasts are very petite, and they do eventually catch up later. And not that there’s anything wrong with dwarfs, but “technically,” Shawn is not because like somebody else said, she may be short, but EVERYTHING else about her physical structure would be considered a healthy average girl’s body. Just saying …
I find the term dwarf rather offensive.
yay im so happy her and Nastia got it they’re both realllly pretty (:
Shawn is like 16 and Nastia is like 17 or 18. but congrats on their wins. and 5.3 is not that short and i agree its rude calling her a midget.. anything bellow 5.0 is a midget.. and for height she’s perfectly fine.
Seriously, why would you even bring up the term “dwarf”? Elaine was right that it’s not just a height cut off and frankly, what does it have to do with anything?
Dwarf and Midget are two different things. Shawn is technically a midget, not a dwarf. A midget is in perfect perportion to a normal sized person, only shorter. A Dwarf has a normal size body with short arms and legs , and fingers, PLUS a whole lot of physical problems that need corrective surgery. A midget does not.
Dwarf: a person of abnormally small stature owing to a pathological condition, esp. one suffering from cretinism or some other disease that produces disproportion or deformation of features and limbs.
Midget: An extremely small person who is otherwise normally proportioned.
They look NOTHING alike.
Beth, this “confusion” in terms actually occur in English, in other languages there is only one word for either dwarf or midget, and what disinguishes is the type of condition they have. There is a medical condition of pituitary deficiency where people are shorter and a bit undeveloped, like a very young person, and the people have to get treatment for it. I just think Shawn is short like Dominique Moceanu, even when she grows (she is very young yet), she’ll be a tiny but strong girl.
GOOO SHAWN!! :D
I am SOO happy for both her and Nastia <33 they are AMAZING and they did U.S. gymnastics proud :)
Nastia is an amazing gymnast <3 She’s so different when she is on the podium and off the podium. I love her!
Shawn’s smile is swee t :)
Congrats Both!
the scoring system will be re-evaluated after this Olympics, bringing more emphasis back on Artistry rather than Acrobatics.
Shawn is a great gymnast. I hope she can continue on the training and go to another olympics. Sadly, most of these gymnasts become clinically depressed when their gymnastics career ends, which it always does. Hopefully she can continue on for one more 4 year stretch.
Nastia, is just eh to me. She did pout a lot and made the medal count too important as her goal was to reach or exceed her dad’s medal count. So she didn’t seem to enjoy the olympic experienced that much until she reached that goal.
I do like Shawn’s powerhouse style better than the long lean lines. Go Shawn. I hope she doesn’t grow too much more because her height now is part of what makes her so good.
she’s great.
i’m brazilian and i rooted for her.
Actually you’re wrong, it’s under 4′9 to be legally considered a dwarf, but it’s obvious she wouldn’t be considered a medical dwarf because she has none of the physical appearances attributed to dwarfism. So maybe next time before you go calling a girl a dwarf, one who probably already gets made fun of for being short, a dwarf you should actually know what you’re talking about.
I LOVE HER, SHE IS DO THE BEST FOR AMERICA, GO USA.
ohh please!dont make me laugh!cmo no…americanos tenian q ser!pufff….¬ ¬
i ♥ shawn!!
i saw her wholle performance and she deserved the gold…geez people quit making fun of her size…she’s not that short!
Shawn Johnson is my FAV!!!!I was so happy when she won gold and then her interviews were awesome…i hope to see her in the 2012 olimpics….that’s when i graduate!!
YES! thanks Jared for actually posting on Olympic athletes that DESERVE all the attention the are getting instead of the other crappy celebs that are constantly being posted on here!
I love Shawn and Nastia ! they definitely made history! i was crying when Nastia won that gold medal for the all around and i was so pissed when she got silver but tied with the gold medal winner!
Some of the judging has definitely been wrong in the gymnastics for the Olympics .. But I’m so glad that Shawn and Nastia both got a gold! they for sure deserved it! ..
As a gymnast myself i look up to them they are amazing young role models!
Both Shawn and Nastia are good (great).
you shouldnt be callin shawn a dwarf thats so mean!!! she would not appreciate that! this website sucks!!!!!!!!!!!! who said you have the rite to call her a dwarf? like they said she works so hard. you better appreatiate that. she got a gold medal! she gets a gold medal and all you can say is that she’s a dwarf i mean wtf is up wit that. your the biggest a$$ hole ever! disrespectful!!!!
anyway SHAWN JOHNSON ROCKS!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND CONGRATZ
SHAWN JOHNSON ROCKS AND DONT CALL HER A DWARF YOU ASS!
Shawn Johnson is boss. The end.
:)
I love her to death and she’s such a refreshing face in the world of sports. Talk about an amazing role model for teenagers.
Yay for her!!! Shawn Johnson is a very good gymnast, but Nastia Liukin is the more graceful one. I’m just glad she finally got her gold medal because she deserves it!!!!!!!
Nastia is graceful and elegant. Shawn is dynamite and cute. Some of the Chinese girls are underaged skeletons.
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