Johnson silver in floor exercise by a sliver

Doug and Teri Johnson scooted from their seats down to the front row and leaned over the rail to snap photos as their daughter, Shawn, marched to the podium Sunday to collect her third silver medal of the Beijing Olympics.She spotted them among the 18,000 at National Indoor Stadium, and parents and child exchanged heartfelt looks.It was a magic moment for the West Des Moines family, not diminished by the fact that Johnson, 16, missed gold again, finishing behind Romania's Sandra Izbasa in the women's gymnastics floor exercise final.

"It's a win," Teri Johnson said. "She came out and gave the fight of her life. I've never seen her do better."

Johnson, who also has team and all-around silver medals, is now one of the most decorated U.S. gymnasts in Olympic history, and has a chance to add a medal in the balance beam final Tuesday. Only two U.S. gymnasts have won more than three total Olympic medals. Shannon Miller won seven in two Olympics, and Mary Lou Retton won five in one.

"Oh my God, I can't believe we're here, much less on the medal stand," Teri Johnson said. "I'm just numb."

Doug Johnson was caught up in the moment, helping lead a "Way to go, Shawn!" cheer along with her agent, Sheryl Shade, and her family, and a friend from Iowa.

"She's given everything she had," Doug Johnson said.

Johnson was upbeat about her latest silver medal but craves more.

"I really want to go for gold on beam," she said.

She gets a day off today and will spend it showing her parents around the Olympic Village.

She also will watch her roommate, all-around champion Nastia Liukin, compete in the uneven bars final. Liukin took the floor exercise bronze.

Johnson said she doesn't know how she could have improved her score of 15.550, to Izbasa's 15.650. Liukin scored 15.425.

But she said Izbasa deserved the gold.

"Sandra had an amazing routine," Johnson said. "She stuck her landings, and she has amazing flexibility."

Johnson was first to take the floor with her routine, which includes a difficult tuck double-double on her first tumbling pass.

Then the wait while the seven others performed was excruciating. Liukin and Izbasa were the last to go.

"It was very tough," Johnson said. "I'm definitely not used to that. I'm usually last. Sitting and watching the seven other girls was the most nerve-wracking thing. I wasn't sure how my score was going to hold up."

The U.S. was looking for its first gold medal in floor exercise.

Every previous champion was from the Soviet Union, Russia or one of the former Eastern Bloc countries.

Izbasa was the sixth Romanian champion.

The Americans had won only four medals ever in the floor exercise. Julianne McNamara won silver and Retton bronze in 1984 in Los Angeles, Miller bronze in 1992 in Barcelona and Dominique Dawes bronze in 1996 in Atlanta.

Johnson had scored 15.525 on floor exercise while taking silver in Friday's all-around competition, scored 15.100 in team competition after a penalty for stepping out of bounds and was third in qualifying with 15.425.

"This is a lot more of a struggle than we ever thought it would be," Teri Johnson said.

Alicia Sacramone, 20, of Winchester, Mass., just missed a medal in the vault earlier Sunday with a score of 15.537.

North Korea's Un Jong Hong won with 15.650.

Germany's Oksana Chusovitina, a 33-year-old, eight-time world medalist in vault who has previously competed for the Soviet Union and Uzbekistan, took silver at 15.575. China's favored Cheng Fei landed on her knees on her second vault and scored 15.562.