Coming back from a disappointing loss with the Men's U.S. Gymnastics team, Danell Leyva fought back to win a bronze medal in the Men's All-Around gymnastics final on Wednesday (August 1) in London.
After Monday's (July 20) loss, Leyva kept hope alive, tweeting, "Didn't turn out as planned but you better believe this is gonna serve as huge motivation for everything from here on out #AlwaysFight."
And indeed it was. After a disappointing first two routines, the 20-year-old gymnast found himself in 19th place.
At that point, Leyva knew what he had to do. He told Fox Sports, "I had to relax. I kind of used it like a little kick in the butt. A little motivation. Just coming back and relaxing and trying to show off and do the best routines that I knew I could do on parallel bars and high bar. Just have fun with it."
That kick in the butt came in handy, his routines on the parallel bars and high bar put him in medal territory. The Cuban-born athlete took the bronze, while the gold went to Kohei Uchimora of Japan, and the silver to Marcel Ngyuen of Germany.
Despite the first two routines,Danell made peace with his performance and said, "I wanted to hit beautifully like I did today but with a stick," he said. "Either way, I know that I did good. To win an Olympic medal is a dream come true."
Leyva joins 2004 champion Paul Hamm as the only U.S. men to win Olympic all-around medals since 1984.
Via: U.S. Gymnast Danell Leyva Wins Bronze in All-Around Finals
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