Commending Olympian Shawn Johnson

Floor Speech

COMMENDING OLYMPIAN SHAWN JOHNSON -- (Senate - September 22, 2008)

Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I am going to address two things today. First, I wish to address an Iowan I am very proud of, a person whom, if you watched the Olympics, you saw on television recently. So I am here today as a proud Iowan and American to tell other Americans just how proud I am of this Iowan.

Millions of Americans tuned in to the Olympics this past August and witnessed phenomenal performances by American athletes. I am proud of all the athletes who competed in the Olympics but especially the 11-member Team USA with Iowa ties who represented our country in Beijing.

One of those exceptional athletes was a fellow Iowan named Shawn Johnson. Shawn was a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team who brought home the silver in the team competition. She went on to win individual honors too. She won the Silver Medal both in all-around competition in the floor exercise, and she also received the Gold Medal for the balance beam. And that was her favorite event. All Americans were proud to see Shawn's success, but Iowans are overwhelmingly proud of the self-described--and these are not my words, but other people described her as the daredevil with a big smile.

At this year's Iowa State Fair, the famous butter sculpture, which has been a part of the State fair for the last 45 years--a sculpture made out of butter, usually a cow--this year featured a cow but also a sculpture of Shawn Johnson.

Shawn is the reigning women's world gymnastics All-Around Champion, but she is also a teenager from West Des Moines who presently attends Valley High School when she is not competing around the world. She attends football games and school dances and tries to live the life of a typical teen. She goes to class 5 hours each day and then trains at Chow's Gymnastics in her hometown. With all of this on her plate, she still manages to get straight As.

Her talent is anything but typical. As a baby, Shawn skipped the crawling and went right to walking. She climbed out of her crib before she was a year old. As a toddler, she would build a ladder out of toys, scale the entertainment center, and jump onto the couch.

After seeing their daughter's abundant energy and fearlessness, Shawn's parents Terri and Doug enrolled her in a tumbling class at age 3, and she showed promise early on. Her coach at Chows Gymnastics in West Des Moines, Liang Chow, noticed her talents and honed those talents. He even submitted a tape of Shawn to the U.S. women's gymnastics team coach Marta Karolyi because it is tough for a gymnast training in Iowa to get noticed by a national team.

Training as an elite athlete did not come cheap, though. Shawn's parents eventually mortgaged the family home three times so that their daughter could achieve her Olympic dream, and they managed to travel with Shawn to her international competitions.

In June of this year, the disastrous floods hit much of Iowa. Shawn was training with the national team, but her heart was with her fellow Iowans who were suffering, especially her coach. You see, Chow's Gymnastics, which is Shawn's second home, is located near the Raccoon River in West Des Moines, and the facility suffered a great deal of damage from the flood. Shawn, knowing what this sort of damage could mean for her coach continuing to run her business, wrote a $12,000 check from her endorsements to help get Chows Gymnastics back up and running.

Iowans have all known about Shawn and her extraordinary talent--and, of course, her big smile--for a few years now, and Iowa knew she would make them proud. But the world did not really get to know Shawn until these recent Olympics.

Despite losing the all-around competition to her U.S. teammate and close friend Nastia Luikin, Shawn handled herself with grace, poise, and genuine happiness. And when Shawn finally won the coveted Gold Medal on the incredibly difficult balance beam, her joy was written all over her face.

So I take this opportunity for my colleagues and everybody in this country to commend Shawn on her extraordinary performance in the Beijing Olympics, not only for medals that she won but for her hard work, her composure, and maturity. I compliment her. She did Iowa and America proud.

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