BOSTON (AP) — The other gymnasts have long since gone, and Nastia Liukin and her parents are about to follow them out the door. When Shawn Johnson comes back into the room, though, Liukin stops.

They’ve just spent the last five days together, yet there are still things they must chat about. And though they’ll see each other in another week, the world’s best gymnasts exchange a big hug before Liukin runs to catch up to her parents.

Nancy and Tonya these two most certainly are not.

“We always think it’s funny,” Liukin said, smiling at the question she and Johnson have been hearing for months now. “Outside the gym, we’re good friends, and lots of people can’t see it. When we’re on the floor, we have to be serious and focused.

“Outside the gym, we’re just like anybody else.”

Well, anybody else who has their own TV commercials and endorsement deals.

Johnson and Liukin are gymnastics’ equivalent of the Dream Team, the two most talented — and decorated — athletes of their generation who are expected to give the United States an unbeatable 1-2 punch at this summer’s Beijing Olympics.

That the teammates are also each other’s biggest rival for the all-around gold — or “queen of gymnastics” as Bela Karolyi likes to call it — only makes their sweet little story more appealing. Because whether it’s A-Rod and Jeter, Kobe and Shaq, or T.O. and anybody, things can get a little ugly when two superstars are sharing the same team.

“I don’t feel that,” Johnson insisted. “We’re really good friends, we’re really good competitors and we’re both really good athletes. I think it’s great just because it makes me work really hard and makes her work really hard. And we’re just helping each other get to a higher level for the team.

“I honestly don’t see a huge competition or rivalry between us,” Johnson added. “We’re really good friends and always have been.”

Look at their reaction after they’d secured the two guaranteed spots on the Beijing team at the Olympic trials. While thousands of fans cheered them, they hugged and congratulated each other, tears of joy filling their eyes.

“We looked at each other for the longest time,” said Liukin, who also brushed away the bits of confetti that landed on Johnson’s head. “Shawn said to me, ’Can you believe it?’ She’s like, ’We made it.”’

As if there was ever any doubt.

The 16-year-old Johnson is the reigning world champion and has lost only one meet since moving up to the senior ranks last year. That loss? A close one to none other than Liukin. The 18-year-old Liukin, meanwhile, has three world titles on balance beam and uneven bars, and missed winning the biggest crown of all in 2005 by a razor-thin .001 points.

They are power (Johnson) and grace (Liukin), and the combination makes the Americans the favorites for gold in Beijing. At last fall’s world championships, Johnson and Liukin led the Americans to the team title, then grabbed three of the five individual golds.