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    Nastia Liukin vs. Shawn Johnson - Beijing 2008 - All Around Final | Throwback Thursday
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    Nastia Liukin vs. Shawn Johnson – Beijing 2008 – All Around Final | Throwback Thursday



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    An intriguing all-American contest sees Nastia Liukin face Shawn Johnson in the Women’s All-Around Artistic Gymnastics in Beijing 2008.

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    View 47 Comments

    47 Comments

    1. Amy Mantravadi on

      Two amazing performances. I think Shawn would benefit more from the current COP and is one of the few gymnasts in history who could have a chance of challenging Simone Biles head-to-head in an all-around.

    3. Kira Vega on

      I have always felt Nastia fully deserved that gold but I think Shawn’s beam was underscored in the AA. If you compare between the event final and the aa beam set they are practically identical (actually I think AA was better) and yet she scored a 16.025 here and a 16.225 in event finals!

    4. Sam S on

      Two very hard working gymnasts. One had the shorter, more powerful body (Johnson) while the other had the flowing lines with the tall, lithe physique (Liukin). Just this day Liukin won but if my memory serves me right, in some competitions at the time Johnson won as well… just not at this Olympics.

    9. gracie on

      I dont remember this Olympics so well being so young. But I remember how much talk there was about Shawn. Everyone loved her, and honestly at first I didnt even know Nastia had won the All Around because everyone couldnt stop talking about 'Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson'. For the non-gymnasts, she was just so much more popular. People expected her to win, and I think they were disappointed because it seemed Nastia wasnt as liked.
      Personally I love Nastia's routines. She has an elegance and grace to her that you dont see much these days. Shawn was your typical powerhouse gymnast. I think this Olympics was so exciting to watch because you got to see two very different people and styles compete in such a close match.

    10. Nikkie on

      Personally I believe that Nastia did better on vault and beam whereas Shawn did better on uneven bars and floor. They’re both so talented and stunning athletes. Personally, i think that Shawn’s floor routine put her over because it was SO difficult and perfectly executed, but I can respect the decision.

    12. Krissy on

      Shawn was such a cute kiddo. Chipmunk cheeks & all. Powerful! Nastia was more like a graceful swan w nice lines, flexibility & prima ballerina style.

    13. Tiago Silva on

      I think Nastia was in a good day . She is a great gymnast. But I think Shawn Johnson has better routines and I think she deserved the gold medal. I think her UB score was kinda unfair, the vault as well. But I do admit that Beijing 2008 and Stuttgart 2007 was The greatest moment of gymnastics since I fell in love with this sport (actually, I dont call it sport, but art). I loved watching them two fighting their heart out for the first position. 👏👏

    16. Sarah Nesheiwat on

      VS? I wouldn’t say it was a competition between Shawn and Nastia. It was a competition with the USA and the world. I mean do people not know that by now?

    20. Natasha Zaborski on

      My two favourite gymnasts! I have watched their friendly rivalry too many times to count! Nastia is my all-time favourite, and Shawn is a very close second! And both of them are just such beautiful gymnasts! I love the fact that they are still best of friends to this day!

    24. x on

      i still feel shawn was judged unfairly by the judges in beijing because they didn’t like her style of gymnastics

    26. John DM on

      Shawn lost the gold when Nastia stuck her vault. Shawn's bars is too easy compared to Nastia and Yan. If only they upgraded it to at least 7.0, she has a better chance.

      Nastia was perfect on that day. Compare her AA Vault and Floor against the Nationals. You will see how she got it right when needed.

    29. Donald Holder *Doc* on

      This was a battle that lasted more than a year through training, practices, friendship, championships and then the Olympics. It was kinda sad that it came down to one final day of competition. It was just unlucky for Shawn that Nastia had 3 of the best perfermances of her career on one day. She outperformed Shawn on all but the beam (IMO). Her landings on Vault and bean were spectacular that day. Her floor routine(especially her first pass) was beautiful and perfection on the landing. Nastia was graceful, fluid lines and energetic without just power we see in today's gymnastic competition. Shawn was also fantastic, but this day belonged to Nastia.
      People are arguing still, but I think the bigger argument is the fact that Shawn was good enough to hold off Yang from China by only 0.075 points. Where as Nastia was in first by a 0.575 total. Nastia earned and deserved the Gold.

    30. Michelle V on

      i still get chills watching nastia’s routines from this day. while shawn johnson is undeniably amazing, nastia just has something you don’t see in gymnastics anymore. shawn has that power that simone biles has, but nastia has that perfect execution and grace that you don’t see as much. her legs were always together, feet pointed, and her landings were almost all perfect that day and it’s just beautiful to watch. both shawn and nastia were amazing but something about nastia was so special and it set her apart from everyone that day.

    31. Edits with me! on

      You know if you read Shawn's book You would see what it really meant to her! She put her heart and soul in that routine she showed she deserved the medal but they scored her low! She wanted it for her coach and her family! She deserved it! Nastia just won! I don't get it why you don't like Shawn! She is amazing and kind trained for they joy not medals! Has experience! Once she was called America's sweetheart! What was Nastia called! She did good but Shawn's routine was filled with love and joy of sport! They are both good gymnasts! But Shawn has an attitude!

    33. Valentina on

      Both are absolutely mesmerizing to watch, two very different gymnasts indeed. Nastia’s grace and stuck landings got her that well deserved gold. 👏 to both!!

    34. G R on

      this era of CoP is why Shawn walked away with a Silver medal, theres no way that Nastias routines (besides uneven bars of course) even for this era of gymnastics should NOT be equal let alone even be remotely close to Shawn start value. Shawns beam, floor, and vault dismounts ALONE should be way ahead of Nastias…..my point is this CoP era was insaaaaaane, so many (like Anna Pavlova) desrved medals in the Beijing games but yeeeahh

    35. boosadan on

      Love nastia but that quad was a mess. It was like an experiment for the sport to first try out the open-ended scoring system. Shawn was better at vault, beam, floor and she just had to survive bars to get a decent score. Nastia's bars difficulty was insanely high and she hit everything that day that's why she won.

    42. Адина on

      Толстоногой коротышке легче делать выкрутасы нежели длинноногой девчонке, так что тут реальная победа.

    45. closmartins on

      Is it serious that with such a hard dismount, such a better landing on it and no big mistakes, Shawn Johnson still got 14 tenths less than Nastia on bars? I know the landings aren't everything, but should the difference between the scores be so huge in favor of Nastia?

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