As we lead up to the Summer Games in London, we will be spotlighting a couple of the Team USA athletes each week. Today, we start with Danell Leyva.
A Cuban native, Danell defected to Miami with his mother Maria Gonzalez when he was just a year old. The 21-year-old is now one of America’s greatest hopes for Gold this summer in men’s gymnastics at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
He’s got a good start on the competition as the 2011 U.S national all-around gold medalist and the 2011 world champion on the parallel bars. But it’s his performance on the high bar that he’s best known for with a signature move: the jam-dislocate-hop to undergrips. Don’t try it at home.
Danell still calls Miami home where he trains at the gym his mother and step-father Yin Alvarez own — both were once on the Cuban gymnastics team. Yin is gaining a following of his own, famous for his theatrics in and out of the gym. Check out what Danell calls his crazy coach in action at nbcolympics.com.
When he’s not training, you can catch Danell at a Miami Heat game, hanging with his four dogs or infiltrating one of the Knights Templar in “Assassin’s Creed II Brotherhood”.
Men’s gymnastics competes July 30, August 1, and August 5-7, 2012
For photos, videos, and all-things-Olympics, visit www.teamusa.org or at www.NBCOlympics.com
Image courtesy of Mitchell Haaseth, NBC Olympics
Post from: EveryJoe
He’s got a good start on the competition as the 2011 U.S national all-around gold medalist and the 2011 world champion on the parallel bars. But it’s his performance on the high bar that he’s best known for with a signature move: the jam-dislocate-hop to undergrips. Don’t try it at home.
Danell still calls Miami home where he trains at the gym his mother and step-father Yin Alvarez own — both were once on the Cuban gymnastics team. Yin is gaining a following of his own, famous for his theatrics in and out of the gym. Check out what Danell calls his crazy coach in action at nbcolympics.com.
When he’s not training, you can catch Danell at a Miami Heat game, hanging with his four dogs or infiltrating one of the Knights Templar in “Assassin’s Creed II Brotherhood”.
Men’s gymnastics competes July 30, August 1, and August 5-7, 2012
For photos, videos, and all-things-Olympics, visit www.teamusa.org or at www.NBCOlympics.com
Image courtesy of Mitchell Haaseth, NBC Olympics
Post from: EveryJoe