Olympic Athletes Shawn Johnson and Lolo Jones Honored in Iowa

The Iowa State Fair paid homage to the athletes at the Beijing Olympic games representing the USA. Gymnast Shawn Johnson and hurdler Lolo Jones are both from the heart of central Iowa, West Des Moines and Des Moines respectively.

Shawn Johnson, a student at Valley High School in West Des Moines, will bring home a total of four Olympic medals from the Bejing games.

In the 2008 Olympic Women's Team Gymnastic Championship the USA team won a silver medal. While their hopes may have started higher, it soon looked questionable for anything. Shawn was solid and competed in every event for the USA team.

She went on to compete in the Women's Individual All-Around, where she placed a close second to teammate Nastia Liukin despite questionable judging. Still grinning, Shawn Johnson was awarded another silver medal for a near perfect Women's Individual Floor Routine.

Then came a favorite event for Shawn Johnson and the fans that love to watch her. The Women's Individual Balance Beam has always looked easy for her somehow. She manages to stick every landing like the beam is four feet wide, not four inches. Shawn Johnson received a gold medal for her final performance on the balance beam at the Beijing Olympic games.

To show support and respect for our hometown athletes, the Iowa State Fair enlisted the help of some local artists to carve likenesses. Shawn Johnson was carved in butter, right next to the infamous butter cow. It may seem odd to some, but in Iowa if you are carved in butter at the State Fair you are an icon.

Lolo Jones' likeness was carved in ice on the Grand Concourse at the time her first heat was starting at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Jones, a graduate of Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, was set to win gold in the Women's 100m Hurdles when heartbreak set in. After flying through preliminary heats Jones, the world's top hurdler, was leading with two hurdles left. She clipped the ninth hurdle and staggered from first to seventh place where her Olympic dreams ended in shock. All of Iowa will feel Lolo's pain and support her in any way possible, that is just how it is here.

There was also an Olympic Pavilion set up with big screens and constantly streaming video of the games. Thousands of Iowans stopped by to support all of the athletes competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.