Danell Leyva Gets Silver In Parallel Bars, Will He Take The Gold In Horizontal Bar?
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Danell Leyva, the American Olympic gymnast, will be competing in two different Olympic finals events tomorrow: the men's parallel bars and the men's horizontal bar. Will he win the Olympic gold medal?
Update: Danell Leyva wins silver in the parallel bars!
Danell Leyva: Championship Gymnast
Danell Leyva may not yet be a household name, but he's well known in the men's gymnastics community.
Leyva has already competed in the men's pommel horse, the men's vault, and the men's rings, among other events. He also competed in the men's team final with four american teammates, finishing 5th, according to the Official Rio 2016 website.
While he hasn't won any medals in this year's Olympic games yet, Danell Leyva has won several medals in past championships and events: most notably, the gold in parallel bars in the 2011 World Championships, three different gold medals in the 2010 Pacific Rim Championships, and the bronze in the 2012 Olympics.
If he wins both events tomorrow, it will be his fourth parallel bars medal and his third horizonal bar medal.
The most amazing thing about the Danell Leyva story is that originally, he wasn't even going to be at the 2016 Olympic games. He was chosen as an alternate, but got to attend the games due to an injury to a teammate.
He spoke to USA Today about it, saying, "Maybe the numbers weren't there, but I was happy with the way I competed.
And it was an incredible honor to be picked as an alternate." He continued: "From that moment, I was training as if I were going to compete because you never know what happens in gymnastics...My thought process was trying to outperform everybody.
My thought process was to try and show the selection committee I was better, that I was good enough, ready enough...I was happy to be chosen onto a team, but not the way that it happened."
So Who Is Danell Leyva?
According to the International Federation of Gymnastics, Danell Leyva was born in Cuba in 1991. Both his mother and stepfather were members of Cuba's gymnastics team. He currently resides in Florida and has been involved in national competitions since 2006.
He began studying gymnastics when he was only four years old. Outside of gymnastics, he enjoys science and art; he also loves listening to music, especially R&B and Hip Hop.
Danell Leyva also has a humorous side: he said this in response to a question from a reporter:
Question: "Speaking of the village, as you know there were 450,000 condoms available to the athletes this year ... "
Leyva: "Is that more than last time?"
Question: "I don't know if it's twice as many, but it's a lot.... So my question is: Will that be enough?"
Leyva: "For me?"
Here is Leyva with his family in Rio:
Tomorrow's Finals: Will Danell Leyva Medal?
Tomorrow, Danell Leyva will be competing in two different events. The first event, the parallel bars, may be his best event. He has won gold medals in two gymnastics championships for this event.
The current standings have him at #7. The other event, the horizontal bar, is also one of Leyva's strengths. He placed in multiple championships for this event. Here he is #4 in the standings -- the top American.
So will he win? Only time will tell...but we're sure there will be a lot of folks cheering him on.
This story has been updated.