Retired Olympic Gymnast Shawn Johnson Speaks to the Promise of the 2024 Paris Team

The 2008 gold medalist will be on the ground in France to cheer on the star-studded squad.
Shawn Johnson
Shawn Johnson / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Retired professional gymnast Shawn Johnson’s life may look a lot different these days, but she’ll still be found on the ground at the Paris Olympics.

The 2008 Olympic gold medalist is now a mother of three, and come the end of August, she and her whole family will be traveling to France for the games. Ahead of the trip, the 32-year-old is finding herself feeling protective of the five-member 2024 U.S. gymnastics team. “And now as a mom, I feel like their mom,” she told People. “I’m just like, ‘I just want you to be O.K. and I want it to go smoothly and I want it to go perfectly!’”

When it comes to their skills, she doesn’t have any doubts. Johnson, who knows what to look for in a successful Olympic roster, believes that the U.S. has “an incredibly strong team” this year, she said. “You have four repeating Olympians from Tokyo which is insane.” With prior experience comes a level of “wisdom and the leadership” that she finds “incredible.”

In the same way that she looked forward to her own Olympic debut, where she won a gold medal on the balance beam and three silver medals, she understands the experience of the incoming Olympians. “I feel really, really excited for the athletes who are competing. Really proud. I feel really respectful and just want to honor them,” she said.

There’s no doubt, with her husband, Andrew East, and three children by her side, she’ll do just that in Paris.


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Martha Zaytoun
MARTHA ZAYTOUN

Martha Zaytoun is a writer on the Lifestyle and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit. Before joining SI Swimsuit in 2023, she worked on the editorial board of the University of Notre Dame’s student magazine and on the editorial team at Chapel Hill, Durham and Chatham Magazines in North Carolina. When not working, Zaytoun loves to watercolor and oil paint, run and water ski. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a huge Fighting Irish fan.