A Rich Idea: Sports

Shawn Johnson Beams After A Golden Olympic Performance

While the balance beam derailed the U.S. Olympic gymnastic team after Alicia Sacramone’s fall, it provided the setting for one of the Olympics great moments after Shawn Johnson’s balance beam routine brought home the gold for America.

Upon first seeing Shawn Johnson when the Olympics began, one could not ignore that her smile-filled with electricity-and her physique bared a striking resemblance to the golden Olympic girl herself, Mary Lou Retton. However, up until last night, Shawn’s golden smile had only yielded silver results.

Alicia Sacramone: A Knock-Out

After pondering the fate of Alicia Sacramone in The Balance Beam of Life: Alicia Sacramone’s Olympic Fall, I have become less concerned for two reasons:

The Balance Beam of Life: Alicia Sacramone’s Olympic Fall

Imagine. Just Imagine. You train your whole life for one moment, and when that one moment comes, you fail.

This is what happened to Alicia Sacramone in the “Women’s” Gymnastics last night.

Through a slight miscue on China’s part, the American girls still had a chance to win the gold as they entered the balance beam competition last night. The evident leader of the team, Alicia Sacramone, was first up. In a mount that seems near impossible, she approached the beam backward, trying to begin with a back flip onto the beam. She landed on the beam but had no balance. As she fought to regain her balance and stay on the beam, one second that seemed like an eternity, she fell–a fall that basically ended America’s chance at a gold.