International- Former Olympic gymnast
Shawn Johnson offered advice to athletes who were planning to compete at the 2020 Tokyo games this summer. - While promoting her partnership with Hallmark, Johnson told Insider that she's told a few Olympic hopefuls that "no matter the outcome from now on, you've succeeded because you got this far."
- The 2008 balance beam gold medalist said she "wasn't shocked" that the
Olympics were postponed, but she acknowledged that "it's really hard for me to put myself in [the athletes'] shoes." - "It's been a lifelong attempt to reach that moment, and [they] now have to figure out how to restructure their entire life around a postponed Olympic moment," she said. "I don't know if I could do it."
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Shawn Johnson may have moved on from competition, but the former Olympic gymnast still has some insight on how athletes should handle the postponement of the 2020 Olympics.
While promoting her new partnership with Hallmark, the 2008 balance beam gold medalist told Insider that she's spoken with some Tokyo Olympic hopefuls and tried to reassure them that "this isn't anything you can train for, so there is no reason for you to feel down about yourself."
"I've spoken to a few of them and what I say to them as a spectator and someone who also understands the magnitude of the situation for them is that... this has nothing to do with a lack of training or a lack of preparedness," Johnson said. This is truly something out of your control. No matter the outcome from now on, you've succeeded because you got this far."
"You have to look at it differently," she added. "It's not your average Olympics anymore, it's the Olympics amidst the pandemic."
Johnson is as close to an authority on Olympic training as one can find. The now-28-year-old was dubbed "America's Sweetheart" while competing for Team USA alongside Nastia Liukin at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native won gold on the balance beam and silver in the all-around in addition to winning two silver medals in team events.
Some 12 years later, Johnson "wasn't shocked" that the start date for an Olympics had been altered for the first time since World War II.
"I remember hearing the first hints of the pandemic and my first thought went to 'I bet the Olympics will be affected,'" she said. "I think it's something all athletes expected and understand, but added to the devastation of everything going on, it's magnified for them because it's been a lifelong attempt to reach that moment. To now have to figure out how to restructure their entire life around a postponed Olympic moment and dream is a lot."
Even though she's experienced the emotional and physical toll of gearing up to compete in the Olympics, Johnson admits that "it's really hard for me to put myself in [the athletes'] shoes" given the unprecedented nature of the current situation.
"I've tried to articulate this to people before and I think I do a terrible job, but an elite mindset is very black and white," Johnson said. "It's two plus two equals four. And for as long as these athletes can remember, the 2020 Olympics were going to start on this date and end at this time. They knew exactly what day of the week their event was going to be on, what time it would start, and when it would end. When they could cross that finish line. And they've trained that way for 20 years. So, now these athletes having to wrap their heads around something that's up in the air and are trying to conjure up that motivation and that drive to work towards an unknown when they've had something so concrete to work towards for so long."
"I think it will test these athletes more than anything they've ever had to experience before," she added. "I mean, I don't know if I could do it. I don't."
Johnson noted that "whether you're hosting a wedding or trying to get married or starting a new career or you just lost your job," everybody is experiencing that same challenge of "trying to adapt and figure it out and just get through it."
As a new mom, Johnson is adjusting to life with her nearly 6-month-old daughter, Drew, while simultaneously coping with the new realities of life under quarantine. She's done her best to maintain a sense of normalcy in her own home and has partnered with Hallmark to try to do the same for moms across the country.
She's created a Hallmark gift guide to help families find inspiration for a Mother's Day that will undoubtedly feel different than those of years past. Check it out below:
Shawn Johnson East_Mother's Day Gift Guide 2020 by Meredith Cash on Scribd
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