Floods of '08 cont--Chow's Gym (Thanks Carin and Mal!)

This is the gym that my niece coaches at....not a pretty sight at all! And this happens to be the gym that Shawn Johnson trains at, so this could not have come at a worse time for her since the Olympic Trials start on the 19th of this month. Nothing like a little drama and stress for the poor girl! Below is the story from the AP:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Floods force world champion Johnson out of WDM gym 6/13/2008 ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 13, 2008Des Moines RegisterWith the Olympic trials only days away, rising floodwaters have forced world gymnastics champion Shawn Johnson out of her gym. There were 8 inches of water inside Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute on Friday, and fish swimming in the parking lot. The gym is in an industrial park a few blocks from the Raccoon River, which is rising after heavy rainfall earlier this week.About 100 volunteers helped evacuate the gym Thursday night, moving equipment to a balcony and putting sandbags around the building.Johnson, who is a favorite to win the gold medal in Beijing, leaves Monday for the trials in Philadelphia. But she has to find somewhere else to train in the meantime, and that's not as easy as walking into another gym.At Chow's, Johnson trains on Janssen-Fritsen equipment — what will be used in Beijing. But Janssen-Fritsen is a European manufacturer, and very few gyms in the United States have its equipment.The women's competition at trials begins next Friday. The top two — expected to be Johnson and Nastia Liukin — automatically qualify for the Beijing squad, with the remaining four members named after a July 20 selection camp.