What would happen if Shawn Johnson train like the Chinese girls?

Question

Now, here's a surprise. Shawn Johnson goes to a public school, only trains 4 hours a day, and she's whooping everybody's butts most of the time. Don't you wonder what would happen if she really dedicated her life to gymnastics? Would she burn out and not do so well, or will she be the Michael Phelps of Gymnastics?

Answer 1

I think Shawn has found the perfect balance between life and gymnastics. If she were forcibly trained like the chinese girls, she might lose her love of the sport and that might shine through in competition.

Answer 2

I think if she trained like the Chinese (8 hours a day; ate, slept, and breathed gymnastics) she would have grown to hate the sport. If she did do it, I think she would be some superhero of gymnastics (or burnt out and hurt early).

I feel like she has the perfect balance of "normalcy" and her training.  She truly seems like a happy spirit and caring person.

Answer 3

She would burn out if she trained like the Chinese I think. Her coach Liang Chaw who is Chinese grew up under the Chinese system and he thinks there are other ways to train and still be an elite gymnast. He doesn't believe in training every hour of your life to become a succesful gymnast and Shawn success proves his point. Her coach believes in training smarter and being more efficient than purely putting long hours. Achieving a balance between high end training and having a life outside of it is very important too. If you happen to read this Shawn congratulations on the gold medal.

Off topic it is unrealistic for any gymnast to dominate gymnastics the way Phelps dominated swimming. Gymnastic is not only more demanding and tougher but the error magin is small PLUS someone else's judges your performace whether you win or lose where swimming your not being judged. Two different animals

Answer 4

I agree with lovely5, she's found the perfect balance. As lovely as she is, she won't be able to compete in gymnastics forever!

What's interesting is that her coach, Liang Chow, was a Chinese gymnast, and he's actually the one insisting she train less. Maybe he's seen bad results from intense training?

Answer 5

I think she did trained like Chinese girls. Her coach is a Chinese

Answer 6

Well, she is actually like some kind of "prodigy girl" in gymnastics...i mean she was born for that sport

Answer 7

um........  then she would pretty much have no life

Answer 8

im pretty sure the reason she can whoop everyone, and still train less is because even though she started about the same age as those girls, she ENJOYS what she does, and isnt FORCED to do it, like the Chinese do to their athletes, enjoying what you do always makes you a little better than someone who doesnt enjoy it, but im sure it is also partly due to her skill ;)

Answer 9

It's more about talent than training. It's not like anybody train hard could get an olympic medal. Not sure whether she has reached her limit or not. But if she had more potential, then her coach should have trained her harder.

Answer 10

I don't think she would have as much fun with all of it as she has now. She would still be amazing b/c you can't rip the talent out of that girl.