During the Olympics media summit in Chicago in mid-April, Newsweek's Karen
Springen talked with U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson, 16,  about her Olympics
aspirations and her emphasis on having "a normal life" -- including going to the prom.
Excerpts:

      Shawn Johnson suggested she was an accidental Olympian.  "I never
started gymnastics thinking I wanted to be an Olympian," she says.
"It was just always something I enjoyed."

    At age 3, she started tumbling. "My parents put me in gymnastics
because I had way too much energy around the house." She declines to
talk about competitors in Beijing. "I never really try to focus on
anyone else," she says. "I was always just trying to beat myself."

     She likes living 15 minutes from her gym, and living in Iowa, which she
calls "the best place ever." Her mom and dad are "the most normal
parents there are," she says. "They never pushed me. They just wanted
me to follow my heart." Because of them, she says, "I've stayed pretty
normal." She attends public school from 8 to noon. She works out from
2:30 to 6:30 p.m. during the week and from noon until 6 p.m. on
Saturdays. Sunday is her day off.

    Her role model: Mary Lou Retton. "Mary Lou Retton has always inspired
me," she says. "She's the nicest lady I've ever met." But she doesn't
want to be just like her. "I'm in the sport to become the next Shawn
Johnson," she says. "I want to be a person that little girls and athletes
can look up to and admire."

    She says she doesn't suffer from injuries (though she later says, "you
learn every ache and pain possible-it's the most physically demanding
sport there is"). When she's not at the gym, she goes to school
football games. Last summer she was a ball girl for the football team.
"My parents think it's mandatory I have a normal life," she says. So
does her coach, who she's been with since she was 6. "He's completely
understanding I need a normal life," she says.

     In fact, the number of hours she spends in the gym is on the "low end"
to "avoid burnout," she says, "[But] there is definitely a lot of demand for my
time." She is considering a career in the "medical field
because gymnastics teaches you so much about your body," she says.
"I'm going to be in gymnastics for life."

     After the VISA national championships last year, a little girl on the
street said she wanted to be like her. "It was such an honor," Johnson says.
"It was the greatest, rewarding feeling to have." She is excited for her Chinese
coach, who hasn't been back to his country in 13 years. She is happy
with the new gymnastics code, though she knows some people have
criticized the loss of some of the artistic side of the sport. "I
think the new code is great," she says. "I am a powerful athlete."