LEYVA CAPS REBOUND WITH 2 SILVERS
American gymnast ‘ incredibly happy’ after trying year
Danell Leyva put the RIO DE JANEIRO USA’s podium uniform on right after he was done on parallel bars.
Never mind that seven of the top gymnasts in the world had yet to compete in the Olympic final. He thought his routine was good enough for a medal. By the end of the day, he wasn’t just right. He had two medals.
Leyva claimed silver on both parallel bars and high bar in the final day of gymnastics competition Tuesday at Rio Olympic Arena, completing a threemonth journey from injury to alternate to medalist.
“Nobody has a perfect day, but I feel like this was as close to perfect as I possibly could have gotten,” Leyva said, “and I’m incredibly happy.”
No athlete becomes an Olympian without a heaping helping of confidence, but Leyva’s has had to be unshakeable.
In early May, Leyva broke up a fight between his dogs and was bitten in the left leg and hand. Even as it was happening, he thought of the Olympics.
“When I had the dog on my leg,” he said, “I was just thinking, ‘ Really, right now? This had to happen right now?’ ”
Leyva had more than a half- dozen bites, including deep wounds on his legs that could not get stitches. He couldn’t walk, let alone train, for days.
Leyva returned for the U. S. championships in early June but struggled after missing weeks of training. He improved for Olympic trials at the end of that month and was named one of three alternates for the team.
“For me, I thought the Olympics was over. So when he was named the alternate, I could breathe,” said Yin Alvarez, Leyva’s stepfather and coach. “Because I thought we were not even coming here to see the Olympics. I thought it was over. Four years of hard work was over.
“So when I got the chance that he be the alternate, I felt so proud.”
Through it all, Leyva maintained his confidence. If he didn’t think he should be on the U. S. team, why should the selection committee?
Leyva was named to the team in July after John Orozco tore his anterior cruciate ligament in training for the Games. It wasn’t the way Leyva expected to make the team, and Leyva said the medals were for Orozco as much as himself.
“You have to believe within yourself that you can do more than what people expect,” Leyva said.
Tuesday, that meant a clean, smooth parallel bars routine that scored a 15.900 for his highest mark in months. Ukrainian Oleg Verniaiev, the all- around silver medalist here, scored a 16.041 to take gold on the event where he has clearly been the best gymnast all week.
From the parallel bars podium, Leyva glanced at the high bar and thought about what was next. He went last on that event, putting together a high- flying routine with big releases. He scored a 15.500, knocking teammate Sam Mikulak off the podium.
Leyva and gold medalist Fabian Hambuechen of Germany had the highest difficulty score on the event.
“I think this is the two best routines he’s ever done,” Alvarez said.
Coming in, another all- around medal, like the bronze one he collected in London, was unlikely, Alvarez said. Instead, he and Leyva focused on the bars events this year, with Alvarez explaining it was Leyva’s best chance of a medal.
Despite all that has happened in the lead- up to the Games, they held that same unshakeable belief Tuesday. Leyva couldn’t stop smiling when he woke up, he said. He ended the day the same way. “I had a good feeling about today,” he said.