The 2007 World all-around champion, Johnson, won four medals at the 2008 Olympics (gold, balance beam; silver, team, all-around, floor exercise). Johnson’s 2008 Olympic achievements not only earned the U.S. their second-straight Olympic team silver but made history by making her just the second U.S. gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal on the balance beam.
Johnson’s senior competitive career began in 2007, when she earned the all-around title at the 2007 Tyson American Cup. At the 2007 Visa Championships, Johnson won three U.S. titles, taking the top spots in the all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise competitions. She concluded her impressive 2007 season at the World Championships, where she helped Team USA to the team gold medal while collecting individual gold in the all-around and on the floor.
Johnson won her second senior U.S. all-around title at the 2008 Visa Championships and was the all-around champion at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Johnson took a two-year hiatus from gymnastics after the 2008 Olympics, returning to competition in 2011 when she and her teammates earned team gold at the Pan American Games. Individually, she added the silver medal on the uneven bars. In 2009, Johnson appeared on and won ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” was the recipient of the 79th AAU James E. Sullivan Award, and was awarded an ESPY for Best U.S. Female Olympian.
Johnson announced her retirement from the sport in 2012. Johnson trained at Chow’s Gymnastics in West Des Moines, Iowa. Currently, she resides in Nashville with her husband Andrew and serves as a motivational speaker.
