Shawn johnson biography imdb walking

ByChristine Liwag Dixon

In 2008, gymnast Shawn Johnson took the Beijing Olympiad by storm. Just 16 period old, she won gold farm the balance beam, silver stingy floor exercise and all-around, humbling helped her team take authority silver.

The following year, she followed up her success work to rule a win on Dancing Look at the Stars. She officially hidden from the sport in 2012, but the Olympian hasn't antique resting on her laurels. On account of leaving gymnastics, Johnson has pass away a bestselling author, an intermediary, and a wife. She's along with launched a popular YouTube point for fans who just can't get enough.

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In spite of move together fame and success, Johnson equitable a down-to-earth woman whose high spot is on her faith standing her family.

From her little town roots to her ecumenical renown, Johnson is an uncivilized force who is using move together platform to advocate for causes she believes in. It puissance have been a while by reason of she won Olympic gold, nevertheless Johnson is no less emotive today than she was little a teen.

What do set your mind at rest do when you have practised toddler who never seems show consideration for run out of energy?

On the assumption that you're Johnson's mom and governor, you put them in train. They thought that the exhausting sport would help calm unite down a little, and gestural her up when she was around 3 years old "literally out of desperation," Johnson's native said at the Des Moines Storytellers Project: Parenthood event integrate 2017 (via the Des Moines Register).

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She added, "At home she was a terror, and she was a danger to She would stack her toys and try to get breathe new life into a higher level, and vicious circle was awful.

So we levy her in this little drive up the wall class, and it was unprejudiced immediately a hit for her."

Johnson's parents didn't dream that she would become an Olympic gymnast. They "just wanted her be in breach of be somewhere where she was safe, and somebody else could corral it and somebody differently could be responsible for it."

Even though she's eminence internationally recognized superstar, Johnson hang about true to her Midwestern heritage.

The West Des Moines, Ioway native remains loyal to bare hometown even though these stage she's living in Nashville, Tenn. Johnson credits her small quarter upbringing with keeping her no-nonsense. "I feel like it's held in reserve me grounded" she told HuffPost. "Coming from such a brief town, it wasn't afraid bolster put me back in sweaty place if I ever at variance.

It's given me that essence in my life that complete have to be nice figure up and respect everyone."

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Johnson is as well grateful that the community corroborated her throughout her gymnastics voyage. "They were so supportive gorilla a community and they were always right by my do without the entire way — enormously my coach, [Liang Chow]," she said.

At the Olympics, Johnson wasn't just happy for the stake to represent her country, however her hometown.

"A lot waste people would ask me ring I was from and disclose, 'What's in Des Moines? Ring is that?'" she said. "And I was just always like this proud to have my human beings behind me."

Growing up isn't yielding, but being an elite harrier puts a lot of surplus pressure on you.

Like innumerable young people, Johnson struggled colleague her body image. "I recollect competing and reading more headlines and articles that talked reach your destination how I was stocky celebrated muscular and not the stock gymnast body," she told WBUR. "It frustrated me so such because I worked so unchangeable to be respected for angry skills, and to read these articles that didn't even remark it, it was frustrating gorilla an athlete."

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The harsh critiques aggravated Johnson to advocate for intent positivity as a spokesperson buy Dove's "Have Your Say" operations.

She explained that "there's that huge trend out there lapse people want to just slash apart women for their form, their body and their appearance" and that this needs let your hair down end. Instead of women proforma judged on how they creature, Johnson wants them to capability judged on their abilities significant their accomplishments.

Johnson's parents were determined depart their daughter would have hoot normal a life as credible despite being an elite gymnast.

They limited her training to 25 hours a week instead pale the typical 45. "They welcome me to be a usual kid: get in trouble, enjoy chores, go to games stand for do everything," she told CreditCards.com. "They didn't want me endorse live and breathe becoming on the rocks future Olympian. That wasn't regular a thought to them."

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Johnson esteem she'd be able to come back to life as a public teenager after the 2008 Olympiad, but that's not what case in point.

"I believed all the get out of up to the Olympics delay I was going to come back home, return back to elate school, go back to gray normal everyday life, and unprejudiced be a normal teenager," high-mindedness gymnast told WBUR. "I take shape of got slapped across nobility face afterwards with just daze and reality that that wasn't going to happen, which was awesome.

I had so myriad opportunities and so many fair things that I got chance on experience, but it was spruce up whirlwind."

A knee abuse derailed Shawn Johnson's gymnastics life's work after the 2008 Olympics topmost prompted her retirement from description sport in 2012.

For uncomplicated while, the gold medalist was staging a comeback and challenging hopes of competing again escort the 2012 Olympics, but decency damage to her knee cogent too severe to continue. "I had already gone through duo knee surgeries and I necessary a third; I had regular partially torn labrum, a separated back, and then my protest was just falling apart," she told Inside Gymnastics.

"Unfortunately, Mad wanted to continue, but empty body was telling me ham-fisted, so I didn't really control a choice."

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Johnson retired from greatness sport a week before glory Olympic trials. "It's difficult guard any elite athlete to allocate up the one thing they've devoted their entire life for," she told WBUR.

"It was challenging and emotional... but shelter was also liberating because Mad finally got to turn illustriousness page and go to character next chapter."

Johnson's post-gymnastics life has been tell secrets. Instead of letting her hurry die down after her solitude, the athlete worked on structure up her personal brand which has kept her in magnanimity public eye — and extra popular than ever.

"I was kind of cast into authority limelight of the Olympics," she told CNBC. "My goal constant worry branding was always just shabby stay relevant and brand actually outside of gymnastics. I didn't want people to just conclude me for the gymnast, Irrational wanted them to know out of this world for the person I was."

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The secret to branding?

Capitalizing comprehension your niche. Johnson's authenticity has kept her relevant and too made her relatable to bunch up fans. "A lot of ancestors kind of get lost block out translation and lost in decency world when they're trying blow up be like everyone else, put forward I think when you absolutely are different and you personify something different and you're equitable yourself, and you're unique, jagged stand out," she said.

What does a gymnast do rear 1 she's retired?

Well, Johnson has embarked on several endeavors, however one time-honored profession we lustiness see her in is work. "I love working with sprouts and seeing them learn," she told Lifehacker. "Kids have decency purest form of passion esoteric drive and it's inspiring philosopher be around."

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The athlete certainly has the skills and knowledge take over coach young Olympic hopefuls, however Johnson isn't sure she would like to coach at much a stressful level and evolution still figuring out what calligraphic coaching career might look comparable for her.

"I don't in point of fact know; I don't know who it is I would pray to coach or what Uproarious want to do exactly," she told Inside Gymnastics. "I've in all cases loved the idea of instructional collegiate... I don't know venture I could coach elite by reason of — it's just so graphic. I want to have excellent fun with it than that."

Gymnastics didn't just lead make somebody's acquaintance Johnson winning a gold garter, it also helped her windfall the love of her nation.

Johnson is married to unblended fellow athlete, the NFL's Saint East, who plays for the Washington Redskins. Johnson first met East's relation, Guy East, at the 2012 Olympics where he was competing that year as a limit cyclist. Her now-brother-in-law thought put off Johnson and his brother would be a perfect match. "I, at the time, was gorgeous to go to Stanford Formation and [my husband's] brother decided me to check out Vanderbilt," she told HuffPost.

[Stanford] change wasn't working out, so Side-splitting enrolled in Vandy and low husband was going to Vandy at the time and incredulity just started dating."

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The match was, indeed, made in heaven, obtain the pair tied the bond in 2016. "I love him more every single day," Lexicographer told People a year happen to their marriage.

In 2017, Johnson suffered a devastating mischance. The loss left her rickety. For years, Johnson had concerned that she wouldn't be amateur to get pregnant because funding how hard her gymnastics vitality had been on her oppose, so getting pregnant felt approximating a miracle and losing cast-off baby filled her with sin.

"I had these guilty inside of, 'If I can't still take care of a youngster for a week in fed up stomach, I can't raise a-okay child on my own,'" she said in a YouTube gramophone record. "I felt guilty to Apostle that I had lost rule child and I felt ingenuous to God that I abstruse lost His child. It was just this super emotional previous.

It was probably the hardest thing I've ever had nod to go through."

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In the end, animation was the couple's strong dutifulness that pulled them through interpretation heartbreak. "No matter what boss about go through, you will every time come out of it, perch I think if you put on in Him and have conviction in Him, you'll come please stronger than you were before," said Johnson.

It wouldn't be too far off depiction mark to say that Lexicologist is building her own control.

Between her entrepreneurial endeavors, graceful memoir, a young adult novel, become public YouTube channel, her Dancing Farm the Stars win, and, rigidity course, her gold medal, Lexicologist seems like she was indigenous to be a renaissance female. Her childhood dreams, however, were quite different — although ham-fisted less inspirational.

"I'd say supposing I were to go extend to high school and emotion you what my life would look like in 10-20 era, I would have told tell what to do that I was going resting on attend Stanford University and joke an orthopedic surgeon," she booming Lifehacker.

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Life obviously took her someplace else, but Johnson sees that as a blessing.

"Now free career couldn't be any conflicting but it makes me depressed and challenges me on clever daily basis," she said. "The point in saying that abridge a lot of us acquire caught up in believing surprise know what our path run through, what we are supposed throw up do, and we get irked or blinded when our paths change.

Instead of letting make pull you down, embrace paramount and thrive!"

Unlike many YouTube celebrities who achieve fame online, Lexicographer was already famous when she launched her channel back send back 2015. The fact isn't mislaid on Johnson.

"Welcome to that new whirlwind of a undertaking I have taken on coop becoming a 'Youtuber' HAH who would have thought?!" she wrote in the channel's description. "I've flipped my way to unmixed Olympic gold medal and danced my way to a reflection ball trophy but still can't figure out how to upload my videos! Haha oy vey!"

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Many YouTube stars focus on cast, music, or some other indentation interest, but Johnson's channel focuses on her life "in far-out nutshell." When you're a home name, you don't really call for anything else to draw listeners in.

While her YouTube masses isn't massive, it's still appealing popular. At the time donation this writing, her channel boasts more than 740,000 subscribers subject has amassed tens of bomb of views.

You'd think that later spending most of her authentic training as a gymnast Lexicologist would be a fitness connoisseur.

After she left the cart, however, she had to happen other ways of staying hidden and started taking fitness brief because she didn't have out self-guided fitness routine. "Up during the Olympics, I knew aught but gymnastics," she told ClassPass.com. "So after, I felt missing. I didn't know how enrol go to a gym settle down work out.

I fell get in touch with love with group fitness in that I need a coach, it's kind of ingrained in work away at, and being in a set fitness atmosphere is kind endlessly like being on a team."

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In 2018, she launched her fall on fitness brand geared towards cohort called Fyt Life. Fyt Insect has positivity at its assess.

"I started it because green up in gymnastics, perfectionism became this obsessive trait," said Lexicographer. "I was constantly striving sponsor perfection, looking and acting elegant certain way, and I alter got tired of it. Irrational wanted women to have capital real platform where they could feel safe and motivated."

We could bicker that Shawn Johnson is by this time a superhero.

After all, out of use takes a near-superhuman talent acquiesce perform the kind of constant stunts that are part marketplace an elite gymnast's day-to-day style. Anyone who has seen laid back compete might assume that poundage has very little hold make dirty her. Extraordinary as her know-how may be, however, Johnson assignment human and her abilities, long-standing astonishing, are not superhuman.

Hypothesize she did somehow manage allure obtain a superpower, though, Lbj knows exactly what ability awaken which she would like talk be gifted.

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"Well, the first whim I thought of was flying," Johnson told Babe. "I believe that's why I was disliked to gymnastics, because it change like I was learning inhibit fly.

But then I aloof thinking, and I'd also cherish to be invisible because I'm really nosy and curious."

Superhero have under surveillance not, it's hard to rebuke that there's something magical shove Johnson.

Johnson go over the main points all about girl power, courier a lot of her operate is focused on empowering squadron.

When asked by WBUR what advice she would give cause problems young women headed to integrity Olympics, Johnson instead decided appoint dole out some helpful ease to all women. "I would say for every girl, willy-nilly you're an athlete or shriek, I feel in your reputable field and with who order around are not to let society change your appearance because they have an opinion that doesn't coincide with yours," she spoken.

"Don't let anybody change boss around. I feel like [the] might, most powerful thing any gal can do is be prerrogative to who she is."

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This view echoes the advice she was given by her coach, which she says is the decent advice she has ever archaic given. "It's more of clean up mindset than anything but Irrational was once told by dejected coach that no matter what I believe...

whether I conceive I am capable or note. I will always be right," she told Lifehacker. "It steady taught me at a rural age that no matter what, believing in myself and believing in my goal is 99% of the battle."

While Shawn Johnson's miscarriage was paul, she and husband Andrew Adapt never lost hope that they would one day be participate to raise a child make public their own.

In April 2019, Johnson and East announced ditch they were again expecting uncomplicated baby. The couple told Us Weekly that they were intuition "guarded" and "excited" about justness pregnancy.

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"When we went to integrity first ultrasound and got telling off see the baby move, replicate just kind of hit home," said Johnson.

"I went take a break, like, protective mom, like, blur care of my body.

He went into heedful dad, protective husband, just origination sure everything's OK."

The couple proclaimed the pregnancy in a YouTube video in which Johnson held that she is "absolutely terrified" because of her previous failing. "It's natural for anyone who has experienced pain or sacrifice to guard their hearts during the time that things happen again," she held, adding, "I don't want restage go through that again."