Woman loses wedding ring in pocket when she meets James, Paul in Beijing

BEIJING, CHINA — Days after Kerri Walsh performed brilliantly through the distraction of having lost her wedding ring as she and Misty May-Treanor chase Olympic gold for a second time, Beijing has once again been the site of a woman performing brilliantly without her wedding ring.

Carrie Johnson, 23, who is the cousin of an alternate on the U.S. boxing team, was sitting quietly in the corner of a nightspot just off the edge of the Olympic Village when she noticed U.S. basketball star LeBron James stepping in to grab a quick soda and blow off a little steam. Johnson, who is slender, attractive and married, quickly slipped her wedding ring off and placed it in her pocket, and then proceeded to charm James for more than two hours.

“I really felt like it was just something that I had to put out of my mind,” Johnson said. “Once that ring came off of my finger, I was like, ‘Forget about it entirely, just focus on what you need to do.’ So that’s what I did.”

Johnson felt like she put forth one of her great performances, alternately funny and flirty, coy and open. Before she left the bar with James and fellow Redeem Teamer Chris Paul, both of whom needed to “get to bed early” in anticipation of their game against Angola today, many of the patrons in the bar were commenting on Johnson’s remarkable performance.

“You’d have never known she was married,” said one man, sitting close by. “You’d have never known she just lost her wedding ring in her pocket. Most women would be absolutely freaking out when they lost their ring, but not her. She was able to perform like she never had a ring on her finger. But I guess that’s what the Olympics are for – great competitors making great performances.”

Johnson herself was grounded about her once-in-a-lifetime performance.

“I came to Beijing with a mission,” she said. “And when I saw my opportunity, I seized it. I couldn’t come all the way out here and let myself get distracted by the fact that I’d lost my ring in my pocket. I had to convince myself that there’d never been a ring on that finger before in my life. So that’s exactly what I did.

“And you know what? I didn’t put that ring back on until I got back to my room this morning, and it felt great.”

It’s going to be tough for this sport to sweep any nations, but it’s still pretty frickin’ cool!