Shawn Johnson's night

Start watching with men's springboard diving, Chinese divers are dominating--this is their sport, in their country. Even an amateur can see how good they are, small splash on entry if nothing else. Canadian guy does well on the last dive, but the top Chinese diver has such a huge lead there's no chance he'll lose, and he doesn't.

Announcers talk about how crazy the crowds here are; He Chong hears them roar as he takes gold with what the announcers call a "staggering" total, "crazy-good", "beyond words"--he averages over a 95. American finishes 6th for the 3rd straight Olympics.

Track and field, men's 200M semis heat. American Walter Dix in this one, Usain Bolt in the other. Dix finishes third, struggles a bit. Second heat, Shawn Crawford, who won this in Athens, is also in it. Wallace Spearmon another American; Bolton says Bolt has left him, they competed neck and neck for a while. Wow; Bolt and Crawford out front easily, Bolt just running so loose and relaxed, like he's not even trying; Crawford really running hard but Bolt wins.

Mary Carillo, with a piece on kites in China, Weifung. Wow, pretty neat visuals. She's goofy, fits this piece perfectly; talks to a kite master, who can fly kites indoors. She also visits kite fighters; afterwards she and Bob have their usual fun banter.

Now, gymnastics; men's parallel bars. China's already got 11 medals in gymnastics here, going for more; but major mistake by Huang Xu right off the bat. Uzbekistan gymnast next, he does pretty well. South Korean gymnast, as always NBC tells us he's from Korea. He's okay; another South Korean, the guy who got cheated out of gold in Athens, he makes a mistake so he's out of the gold race here, also messes up the landing.

Wow, Anton Fokin, the Uzbeki, gets his country's first medal, in second with only a Chinese gymnast left. Li Xiaopeng; wow, flies through the air, he's clearly better than everyone else here. And he nails the landing; nice routine, another gold for China. 16.45, with the South Korean who went first in second.

Men's 400M semis now, an event the U.S. swept in Athens. Jeremy Wariner wants to defend his gold, says he just wants to do his thing, then it won't matter what anyone else does. He's out front, easily; looks around, nice and smooth.

Odd, they just show a few seconds of the second semis, even though it has an American, David Neville, in it; now the third, with American LaShawn Merritt, who beat Wariner 'convincingly' at the U.S. trials. Wow, he runs as relaxed and easy as Wariner, finishes first too, pretty much the same time.

Women's 400M final, American Sanya Richards who's been ranked #1 for the last three years but has no major championship golds, still a huge favorite. Hmmm.... She's engaged to Aaron Ross of the Giants, big ring on her finger; her races are being shown in the Giants team meetings. Wow, she's out fast, just motoring. Is just accelerating, oh man, really fades, like crazy; finishes third--the upset of the games thus far, Bolton says; she looks frustrated, maybe went out too hard. Worse, a Brit won... says afterwards she's so disappointed, says her right leg cramped. She's a pretty class act, actually; not sure if Bolton believes she did cramp.

100M hurdles, three Americans in it. Lolo Jones, who had a tough upbringing; had 4 foster families in high school, got a track scholarship; the favorite. Wow, hope she wins. She looks so focused, I think she'll win. Bolton doesn't think the race will be close, that she may set an OR. Dawn Harper second American, looks nervous; and Damu Cherry third American.

Jones reminds me a bit of Marion Jones, who I always liked. Oh no, Jones hits the next to last hurdle and doesn't medal--but Harper wins it, out of nowhere says Bolton, can't believe it! Aussie going nuts, keeps screaming; had a great start, won silver. And the Canadian won bronze; what a surprising race. Bizarre, they interview her, with champ Harper standing by. Come on, give me a break! They finally replay her Harper's race, after showing Jones like 4 times. From East St. Louis; they interview her now, she seems cool, says her coach's advice was to 'focus on me'. Oh, they show Lolo crying, alone, standing up against a wall under the stadium.

Women's balance beam final, eight women, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin. And a Chinese gymnast, Al says we have to respect everything they do in this building. Elfie says if the two Americans perform the way they have all week, they should finish 1-2. Huge, beaming smile from Shawn as she's introduced to the crowd. Johnson hasn't been at her absolute best, says Tim.

First up is the Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei, who's leader of the team but has been shaky this week. Absolute silence in the stadium as she does a backward flip, nearly falls again like she did earlier. Shaky on another flip; she's out of gold contention, just seems so tentative. Tim says her dad, when she was younger, traveled five hours by boat to watch her train. Somehow the boat park makes it seem so much longer than by car. Shaky ending, Tim says no major mistakes but no gold either. 15.950--wow, that's ridiculously high.

Gabriela Dragoi, from Romania. They're still talking about Cheng's number. Dragoi is confident on the beam, looks very good; classic Romanian beam work says Elfie. Tim says 'jinxed it El' as Eflie says the Romanians in the past never wavered and Dragoi wobbled. Nice dismount, a step though. Better than the Chinese, I think; score is... 15.625. Kindof crazy, here, but Tim reminds us Cheng's routine starts at a much higher value.

Ksenia Afanaseva, a major mistake right off the bat seems to rattle her, Russian women no real chance here Tim says; the world has moved forward, Russians haven't. Very shaky; announcers tut-tutting. Again, we hear the bell, you have 10 seconds to finish. 14.825.

Li Shanshan of China, wow, a heck of a start, bunch of flips in a row. Very crisp; oh, she totally falls off the beam, it's crazy. A ridiculously great dismount, but no shot at the gold for her. Russian next, a screwup early; man, can nobody here do a clean routine?! More wobbles for her, looks like Russian women are going to get no medals here. Maybe Putin can put some of that oil money into a London 2012 effort. Big step on the landing, too.

Now, Shawn Johnson. Come on, Shawn! She looks like a rabbit, a little girl acting like a woman. Nice opening, she's looking great early. Wow, clearly better than everyone else so far; no stuipd wobbles, just going for it; very deliberate. A small step on the dismount, but a good routine. Big hug from her coach, Liang Chow. She's happy, just bounces off, hugging and kissing everyone. Huge smile, picked up the V sign while in China. Al starts carping about the judges, but then the score flashes--16.225, a huge score. She's now just beaming, the highest score on beam in China. Awesome.

Nastia Liukin--but first, a commercial break. Considering this is all on tape and we knew the result this morning, this is just stupid. Elfie says she had no errors in her warmpu routine. Man, such lean limbs, looks great early; man, elegant as Elfie says, place is totally silent. A big step on dismount, but a great routine. They hug, her dad and Shawn's coach slap hangs; the girls hug again, Shawn is beaming, Nastia looks cool. Start value 6.7 for Nastia, 7.0 for Shawn. 16.025, get a camera on Shawn, quick--and she's hugging her coach, has a HUGE grin. Chinese coach hugs her, too. Hmm, a Japanese gymnast last, no chance though. Elfie does a nice job counterbalancing Tim's pooh-pahing of her, she wobbles, Tim says U.S. 1-2, it's over. Wow, and she falls off.

Man, Shawn is just beaming uninterruptedly, it's so great to watch. You can see her taking it all in, like a giant chipmunk; her parents in the audience, mom crying, Al says they've mortgaged their house more than once to keep her in the gym; parents are crying, holding each other, it's great.

This is what the Olympics are all about; her coach, Liang, born in China, comes home to win gold. Medals 8 and 9 for USA gymnastics, nicely done. Shawn cracks me up, is just waving like crazy to everyone, and beaming, beaming, beaming.

Ah, the medal ceremony. Tim says when you're up there, you think about all the incredibly difficult times, when it would've been okay to give up but you didn't. Even though the Chinese women's team took team gold, no question the U.S. women stole the hearts of the crowd here. Shawn had 3 silvers coming in, what a great ending. Nastia picks up her 5th medal, one more than her dad Al says.

This may be the best moment of the games so far, it's great watching her, makes everyone else smile too. She's totally somber during the anthem, what a great girl. Smile creeps out toward the end, then her big grin.

Now, live, with Johnson and her coach and Bela Karolyi in the studio with Bob Costas. She's wearing peace earings, says she wasn't feeling great, a bit sick. Liang is very confident, they obviously are close. They're all got hilarious footwear on, she's in flip flops; he's got sneakers, Karolyi has ugly shoes. U.S. got more medals than China on women's side, Bela says it proves we're the best. He's so excited about gymnastics.

Costas talks to Liang about the international aspect of it all. They've been together for 10 years; Costas asks how have the Chinese reacted, he says they're proud of his success, and the fact he has this kind of quality gymnast. Costas asks her about watching her parents, she says it makes her feel good, it meant the world to her. Costas asks her about 2012, in a very poised way she says one day at a time.

Men's high bar closes things out here, that Fabian guy from Germany first, a bit of a mistake on his first release, Tim says a bad outcome for him, just messing up. Nails the landing, though. Fabian's visibly upset, 15.875, a bad score for this event. Dutch guy next, Epke Zonderland, Tim says this is where it starts getting radical. Tries to do three releases in a row, slips and falls down on the third but the crowd gives him a hand anyway, recognizing the difficulty. Whoah, and he nails the landing. Nice effort from this guy. A 15.00.

Zou Kai, couple of golds here already. Doesn't look like he's playing it safe, going for some hard releases; a slight step back on his landing, but a great routine. Let the crowd give you this score, says Al; 16.2, to a big roar. Hmm, Hiroyuki Tomita, Japan's been a huge disappointment here. Nice start; high releases, easy and smooth; oh, and he stumbles to a knee on the landing. Otherwise a good routine. 15.225.

Jonathan Horton, who has a real shot at a medal if he just keeps it clean. Looks very determined. He has got to calm down, says Tim, don't get too amped up. Huge releases, does three in a row; man, he's gonna medal, if he can just stay clean! Awesome--and he nails the dismount with just a small wobble, a medal for sure says Tim! His mom is crying up in the stand; come on, silver! And he gets a 16.175, people seem to be booing, others are cheering. Tim says if he didn't move his feet on the landing, it'd be gold.

Two more gymnasts to go. One must not be a factor, if Tim is saying gold for sure. Yann Cuchert, a Frenchie; Tim says Horton's routine was phenomenal, he's just .025 out of gold. Sheesh. Same start value for the Frenchman, he's rocking through the early part, making it look easy--oh, and then he slips and falls! So bronze at least for Horton, who's grinning over on the side. Botches the landing, too, finishes last. Last guy, Italian, won this event in Athens, spitting on his palms. Igor Cassini, seen-it-all, done-it-all veteran says Al. Wow, from the get-go he just looks much better than everyone else; faster, higher, nicer lines--he's the gold medalist for sure, a total pro here; oooh, they messes up an element, Tim says huge deductions, Jonathan Horton you have a silver medal. Wow. Hop on the landing too, no way will that beat Horton says Tim.

Well, let's see. Jonathan is all smiles on the sideline, and he gets the silver! That is awesome, nobody expected this, he gets congrats all around.

Medal count at the end of the night, Costas fillibusters by talking about how much fun the U.S. gymnast are; China's got 43 gold, 26 to U.S.; 79 overall for U.S., 76 for China. U.S. had 44 gold at our home Olympics in Atlanta.