Top 35 Shawn Johnson Quotes

When I was younger, my coach, Liang Chow, made all the decisions. I would go to the gym for practice, do exactly what Chow told me to do, go home, come back and start all over again. If Chow told me to do 50 squat jumps, I did 50 squat jumps.

It’s about putting in the hours and going through the paces.

I pay attention to my diet to be a healthier gymnast, but I’m not obsessive over it.

Retiring was scary and it was tough to give up gymnastics, but so many great opportunities have come from it that I never expected.

I know how much more I need to do to be where I want.

I’ve never had a teammate competing with me my whole life.

I had a constant fear, a constant little doubt in my mind: ‘OK, I’m getting ready to do my standing back full on beam and I might re-tear my ACL.’

I started from zero and went back to the basics in gymnastics.

I love lean meats like chicken, turkey. I’m obsessed with sushi and fish in general. I eat a lot of veggies and hummus.

It’s been strange and weird watching the other girls at the U.S. Olympic trials just because I was training to be out there myself.

I don’t know where I’m really going to cha cha, but hopefully I can find a place.

I still can’t believe I’m an Olympic athlete.

I don’t feel like a star; I never have. I don’t feel like a star; I never have. I always feel like I’m the young one, I’m the small one. I always have someone to look up to, and I think it helps me with motivating myself.

I was able to do Classics, the U.S. national championships and the Pan American Games and feel like I improved with each meet, but I was still struggling with a lot of residual pain from the two surgeries.

When I was 3 my parents put me in gymnastics because I was a bundle of energy and they just didn’t know what to do with me! They put me in a Tots class and I just fell in love with it.

I always have someone to look up to, and I think it helps me with motivating myself.

I told myself after 2008 that I was done for good. But they say you can’t keep a gymnast away from her sport.

My coach, Liang Chow, had one rule while I was training for the 2008 Olympics: no skiing. I could do anything I wanted outside the gym, he said, except ski.

Stay strong. Stand up. Have a voice.

People only see gymnastics on TV and in the Olympics at such an extreme. So it can be intimidating.

I was at the Olympic Games winning medals and I still doubted my image. I doubted what I looked like. That’s sad.

I’m pleased to say my knee feels a lot better. It’s still not back to normal, and I don’t know if it ever will be, but I’m learning to deal with it instead of expecting it to be like it was before.

I get less and less sleep these days, so when I have any down time all I want to do is sleep!

I fell in love with running, and I finally have time to do it now.

I think about my goals. There were a lot of times in gymnastics when I really didn’t want to go in and train, but you can’t make it to the Olympics if you don’t train!

I don’t want to be all power and muscle.

Of course, when you’re training your whole life to get to the Olympics, you train for gold.

My parents- they’ve been my biggest influences and supporters since day one. They teach me every day that happiness comes from within and not from something outside of your heart.

I always feel like I’m the young one, I’m the small one.

A comeback in gymnastics is almost impossible in itself.

Every year I just kept going back to gymnastics, but I didn’t start out training 10 hours a day. When I turned 10 or 11, I got more serious and I focused a lot on making it to the elite level, and from there I just kept going.

I have a lot of expectations and a lot of goals I want to fulfill, but the biggest dream is still to make the Olympic team for London.

I had surgery to repair the ACL in February 2010 and was back in the gym by June, but rushed things too quickly and ended up re-tearing my MCL in September.

I’m trying to stay as calm as possible and focus one day at a time, but when reality sets in, I feel everything: anxiety, excitement, nerves, pressure and joy.

My other life keeps me calm and grounded and normal.