Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin both earned spots on the women's Olympic gymnastics team after finishing 1-2 in the all-around competition at the trials this weekend. Johnson, of West Des Moines, Iowa, successfully defended her U.S. all-around and floor exercise titles at the 2008 national Visa Championships earlier this month, and now she's headlining the women's team that's favored to win gold in Beijing. The 16-year-old Johnson won the trials with a final score of 127.65, and that included marks of 16.2 on both balance beam and floor, the best on the second day of competition. The 18-year-old Liukin, a native of Parker, Texas and a two-time all-around winner at meets this year, had a total of 125.85 for the trials. Chellsie Memmel was third with a mark of 124.80, followed by Samantha Peszek (123.25) and Ivana Hong (120.95). The top two all-around winners at this weekend's trials automatically qualified for the Beijing Games. The six-member women's Olympic team will be named based on results of the Visa Championships from two weeks ago in Boston, the U.S. trials and a selection camp in Houston on July 16-20. The members of the selection camp will be revealed Monday. |
