US gymnast Shawn Johnson always knew her road to the Olympics would be challenging, even before her training gym was nearly washed away.

The disastrous flooding of the American Midwest seeped into Johnson's athletic life last week when her training facility in West Des Moines, Iowa - Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute - was inundated by the nearby Raccoon River.

With about 30 cm of water inside the building, the floor of the gym was ruined and Johnson was forced to train out of town, a big disruption to her schedule just a week before the US Olympic gymnastics team trials.

But the local community refused to let a little water threaten the dreams of one of its most valued citizens. More than 100 residents spent about 17 hours last weekend cleaning the gym and rebuilding the floor so she could train in the comfort of her home environment.

It was the kind of support Johnson has enjoyed since she burst onto the international gymnastics scene in 2007. Johnson won every competition she entered that year, her first as a senior gymnast, claiming four gold medals at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro and three at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, including the all-around title.

After her dominant performance at the Worlds, Iowa governor Chet Culver declared Oct 17, 2007 "Shawn Johnson Day", which Johnson calls "the biggest honor ever".

Now she is only a formality away from being named to her first Olympic team, and if all goes as expected this weekend at the trials in Philadelphia she will be one of the favorites to win gold in Beijing.

"I just felt over the years while watching my gymnastics career excel that if I worked hard enough I might get that chance," she said in an e-mail interview with China Daily. "But never did I imagine myself in the position of having only one competition left until the announcing of the team."

It has been a steady climb to the top for the 16-year-old. Her parents put her in gymnastics at the age of 3 as an outlet for her boundless energy. The first few years went well enough, but Johnson says her family started having doubts about her first gym. So they looked elsewhere, and what happened next Johnson describes as "fate".

Liang Qiao (Chow) and his wife Zhuang Liwen, both Chinese immigrants who were teammates on the Chinese national gymnastics team, had opened a gymnastics studio in West Des Moines a couple of months earlier. When the Johnsons went to check it out, Chow was impressed by the youngster's energy and enthusiasm.

"She and her mom walked in and there was this 6-year-old, toothless little girl with a big smiling face," he said in an interview last year. "You could tell, that kid just loves gymnastics."

Johnson says she clicked with Chow and Zhuang the moment they met. The coaches' gymnastics experience has been invaluable to her, but she says their ability to bring out the best in her has taken her to where she is today.

"They are always making sure this is what I want to do and make sure it's me making the final decision to push myself to the next level, rather than being pushed by them or someone else," she said.

"I never in a million years thought that they would be my ticket to the Olympics, but I never imagined myself getting to that level anyways."

Her coach has also been a big help to her in dealing with the excessive attention that comes with being a young gymnastics star. Chow was a co-captain of the Chinese national team and started winning gymnastics medals when he was 10, so he knows a thing or two about the pressures of stardom.

"Chow has gone through a lot of the stuff that I have, from the emotions to actual physical competitions and restrictions," Johnson said. "He knows what I am going through and he can help me through a lot of it."

Johnson has been in the national spotlight for months now. She has done the TV talk-show circuit, is endorsed by Coca-Cola and McDonald's and, as one of her country's top medal hopefuls, gets mentioned in the same breath as swimming star Michael Phelps and NBA all-star LeBron James. Needless to say, the expectations tower over the 1.43m teenager.

Assuming Johnson gets to Beijing, she will be a favorite in a variety of events. She says she enjoys balance beam the most, but all eyes will be on how she fares in the all-around, where she will attempt to become just the third US woman to win Olympic gold.

It has been a trying year for the little gymnast from America's heartland. Learning to drive, wading through high school (where she is a straight-A student) and fighting flood waters all while preparing for the gymnastics meet of her life is enough to make anyone's head spin.

"It has been just a dream come true, and an overwhelming experience," she said.

(China Daily June 20, 2008)