Shawn Johnson, 20, suffered a knee injury and decided to retire from professional gymnastics competition. After winning multiple medals at the 2008 Olympics, she left the door open to a 2012 return, but now that door has been shut.

The former gold medal winner took two years off after the 2008 Olympics and coming back has proven to be a challenge. She didn’t know if she wanted to return until she had a ski accident. Her left knee was severely damaged. She tore her ACL, MCL, meniscus, and her hamstring on that leg. She had repeated setbacks during her comeback and she feared the long-term effects of her knee injury.

Johnson will always be the country’s darling like Mary Lou Retton was a generation ago. She has a few projects coming out soon and we hit you up with a few videos of her highlights.

Johnson wants to have child and not feel the effects of her knee injury when she is 30. She lists this one of the main reasons that she has to call it quits.

Johnson propelled herself into the limelight after the 2008 Olympics. Only three other athletes left Beijing with more medals (Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Nastia Liukin). During her time away from the sport, she won “Dancing with the Stars” and did some other promotional work. She had an issue with a stalker during her time on the show. She came out of the situation unharmed.

Johnson has an autobiography coming out on June 4th called ‘Winning balance’. She plans to go to college in the fall of 2013, but she hasn’t settled on a school.

I can’t confirm this, but I’m sure that you will see her during NBC’s broadcast of the 2012 Olympics in London, England.

Here are a couple of videos of Shawn Johnson during her career as a gymnast and the season in which she won ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and an interview with Mo Rocca.