BEIJING - The American gymnasts were supposed to do this, finishing 1-2 in the Olympic women's all-around competition.

The exact order was a mild surprise.

Shawn Johnson was ready to be marketed as the next Mary Lou Retton, only to have teammate Nastia Liukin top her Friday and add another gold medal to the family collection.

Closing with an outstanding floor routine, Liukin posted a 63.325 total to beat Johnson (62.725) and China's Yilin Yang (62.650).

"She stuck basically all the [tumbling] passes; that's incredible to do," said Valeri Liukin, the champion's father and coach. "I did strong believe that our time was coming."

That time was 20 years after her father's Olympic triumphs.

Liukin, 18, was born in Russia before her parents moved to Texas when she was a toddler, following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Her parents were both Soviet gymnasts, with her father winning two Olympic gold medals in 1988. Valeri Liukin opened a gym in the Dallas-Fort Worth area soon after arriving in America.

Nastia Liukin described her reaction to winning as "mostly just shock; I couldn't believe that it happened."

Johnson, 16, is from West Des Mones, Iowa, a seemingly unlikely place to have trained under a former Chinese national team gymnast. Liang Chow had come to the University of Iowa as a men's assistant coach and later moved across the state and built a gym, where Johnson enrolled as a 6-year-old and stuck with him. Chow's wife coaches Johnson in two events.

The atmosphere of the National Indoor Stadium was initially a little more subdued than it was for Wednesday's team finals, when the Chinese fans celebrated a victory. China's all-around contestants seemingly had only an outside shot at winning Friday, and the crowd was almost as supportive of Johnson, because of her Chinese coaches.

But the fans responded loudly as Yang's performance evolved and she led at the halfway point. The top six qualifiers competed in the same rotation - vault, bars, beam and floor. Through two events, everything was playing out as expected between the two Americans. Johnson excels on vault, where Liukin is not as good. So Johnson's edge of 15.875-15.025 over her teammate was basically on schedule. Yang moved into the lead after the bars event, where the Chinese had dominated the team final. Her 16.675 mark showed she could spoil the Americans' plans for a 1-2 finish.

Liukin also made a big move on bars, her best event and Johnson's worst. Liukin's 16.650 score sent her into second place, with Johnson (15.275) dropping to fifth, simply because of a less difficult routine. Ultimately, that's where the title was decided.

Johnson responded by with another of her consistent beam efforts, earning a 16.050 score. But Liukin topped her with a 16.125 mark that was good for the lead, after Yang's 15.750 effort.

So as they went to the floor, these were the standings: Liukin 47.80, Yang 47.65, Johnson 47.20.

Yang went first among the contenders, and her 15.0 mark made her vulnerable to Liukin. In turn, Liukin's 16.125 score made it impossible for Johnson to catch her, and Johnson's 15.525 mark was just good enough for second place.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com