A Pair Share the Spotlight

Focus Could Be on Gymnasts Liukin, Johnson En Route to China

PHILADELPHIA, June 20 -- Before the events even began Friday night at Wachovia Center, a preteen girl appeared on the giant screen above the floor where the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics trials would take place. Asked by an interviewer roving through the stands who her favorite gymnast was, the girl responded quickly, "Nastia Liukin." A round of shrieks rippled through the crowd.

Not two minutes later, as world all-around champion Shawn Johnson warmed up in front of them, a group of girls in the stands counted off, quietly, "1, 2, 3," and then screamed, "Go Shawn!" Johnson, lost in her preparation, didn't acknowledge them. Indeed, walking around the gym over three hours of competition, Johnson and Liukin responded to their separate fan bases, but hardly crossed each other's paths.

"It's just great to hear the crowd cheering -- for anyone," Johnson said.

Such is the relationship between the country's two best female gymnasts, women who cemented that reputation here Friday night. Want back-biting or in-fighting? Look away from these trials. Johnson took the all-around lead after the first of two days of competition for the women Friday, scoring best on the vault, the balance beam and the floor exercise. As has become customary, Liukin wasn't more than a hair away -- 63.5 points to Johnson's 64 -- first on uneven bars despite a routine not up to her own standards, and second in both balance beam and floor.

"It's great that we're all peaking at the right time," Liukin said.

Because the trials are just one step in the arduous and protracted process that will eventually result in a six-woman Olympic team, along with two or three alternates, the results from the first day of competition for the women here mattered only slightly. Still remaining are Sunday's finals in the trials, and a final selection camp in July, when the full squad will be determined.

What was reinforced: Johnson and Liukin are not only the focal points of this competition, but could be the focus all the way to Beijing. Each of their actions -- and interactions -- will be monitored. Cameras from NBC, which will broadcast Sunday's finals live, tailed them all over the gym, and might continue right to Beijing. Right now, they have separated themselves from the rest of the competitors here.

"I can't compare myself to them," said 2005 world all-around champion Chellsie Memmel, who stands in third place. "I have to focus on myself and my routines."

But to watch Johnson and Liukin interact on the floor, fans here and at other meets might believe they want nothing to do with each other. Americans love a good rivalry, particularly in an Olympic year. But as Johnson said, "I don't really get it."

"People have to understand that when we're competing, we're completely focused on what we're doing," Liukin said. "We're competing. That's our focus. It's not like we're not smiling on purpose or anything, but we understand what we're doing and what we're trying to accomplish."

Away from the gym, the two are friends -- even if Liukin is 18 and Johnson 16, even if Johnson comes from West Des Moines, Iowa, and Liukin was born in Moscow and raised in Parker, Tex., just outside of Dallas. They compete in things such as trips to the mall. Recently, Liukin said, Johnson boasted that she snared a pair of stylish True Religion jeans. Liukin calmly replied that she was excited for her friend. But she already had her own.

Competition, all the time. Friday was no different. Each has an advantage over the other in a specific discipline. Liukin is one of the best in the world in uneven bars, and though she stumbled on her dismount -- leaving her score at 16.7, a couple of notches from the pair of 17s she threw up at nationals last month -- she still was more than half a point better than the next-best competitor, Memmel.

"There are definitely things I can clean up," Liukin said.

Bars, conversely, are Johnson's weakest event -- though she was a strong third Friday -- but she more than makes up for it in other areas, such as vault, which is clearly Liukin's least-favorite discipline. Johnson's vault is so difficult that she stepped on her landing Friday, yet still beat out vaulting specialist Alicia Sacramone for the best score of the evening.

"I don't think I even realized it's Olympic trials," Johnson said, still smiling afterward. "It's crazy to think that if things go as well on Sunday as they did tonight, that I could be on the Olympic team."

That is, indeed, what's at stake. The top two all-around finishers will gain automatic berths to the team, and it's possible national team coordinator Martha Karolyi could name one or two other members then. Sitting only several paces from each other afterward, Johnson and Liukin beamed about their own nights, about their own prospects. "I feel pretty confident I'll be in that top six," Liukin said.

As does Johnson, right in front or behind. Competition, minus the animosity.

"It really keeps both of us working so hard," Johnson said. "We kind of just push each other to the next level. I like it. I like the competition. I like having one of my really good friends be my biggest competitor."