Two-time Olympic medalist Jonathan Horton announces his retirement.
Injuries put end to career that included two Olympic teams
Two-time Olympic medalist Jonathan Horton said Monday night he is retiring from competitive gymnastics but will remain involved in the sport in support of a proposed men’s national-caliber training center proposed by Cypress-area gym owner Aaron Basham.
Horton, a 31-year-old Houstonian who won two USA Gymnastics all-around titles during a decade-long run as one of the nation’s best male gymnasts, made his announcement after hosting a viewing party for his Monday night appearance on the NBC series “American Ninja Warrior.”
A year after rotator cuff surgery derailed his efforts to make a third Olympic team, Horton said injuries made it impractical for him to continue competing.
“I was hurt every single year for six years after never being hurt once,” he said. “It was a matter of my body telling me that we need to be done.”
At only 5-1 and 120 pounds, Horton was a fearless, nervy competitor who particularly relished his spotlight turns on high bar. His 2008 high bar routine, with a series of above-the-bar, highflying release moves, came within an eyelash of a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, where he won a silver medal on that event in addition to a team bronze.
He won an all-around bronze medal at the 2010 world championships but never reached his goal of the top spot on the podium at a worlds or Olympics.
“I would love to have won a gold medal, but I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish,” he said. “I left nothing out there. I gave it all I had, and I don’t live my life by regrets.”
New training option
An NCAA champion at the University of Oklahoma, Horton returned to Houston in 2009 and trained at Cypress Academy of Gymnastics, coached by Tom Meadows. The gym is owned by former gymnast Basham, who is in the initial stages of planning what he hopes will be a 12,000- to 14,000-square foot gym to supplement his existing location that will be devoted to an elite men’s program.
Several members of the USA Gymnastics men’s team, including former Houston gymnast Chris Brooks, now train at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Basham said he hopes to provide a sea-level alternative for elite men’s gymnasts who want to continue in the sport after college or who opt to turn pro after high school.
“We hope it can be a viable option for those who decide NCAA is not for them or are looking for a warmer climate or another coaching style,” Basham said. “But we’re still in the infancy stages of figuring out what we can do and what we want to do.”
Cypress Academy has no senior elite gymnasts at this time but has seven junior-level athletes who have qualified for the national championships in August in Anaheim, Calif.
Horton said he hopes to be involved in developing the training center but does not plan on coaching. He said he hopes to stay involved in gymnastics as a goodwill ambassador and motivational speaker.
He said an alternative to the Colorado Springs training center “is unbelievably needed” as the U.S. men’s program tries to rebound from two consecutive disappointments at the Olympic Games.
“We need an update if we want to see the success that we want,” he said.
2004 Olympic silver medalist Brett McClure was recently named as high performance director for the men’s program based in Colorado Springs, where 2016 Olympians Sam Mikulak and Brooks are among seven resident athletes.
Time of transition
Basham’s plans for expansion come at a time when USA Gymnastics is in a period of transition as it faces a series of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse against several elite women’s gymnasts by a doctor formerly affiliated with the governing body.
The federation also is without a president in the wake of longtime president Steve Penny’s resignation. It also recently announced it has abandoned plans to purchase the Sam Houston National Forest training center owned by Bela and Martha Karolyi that has been its national training center for the past decade.