U.S. Olympic Gymnastics 2012: Lessons Learned by Jonathan Horton in Beijing 2008

Perhaps one of the most overused, and nonsensical, comments in sports is "leaving it all on the field." However, gymnastics is one sport where it actually can apply, and in 2008 Jonathan Horton decided it wouldn't be a factor for him.

It is rare to hear an athlete in a traditional team sport state "we would have won if only I'd tried a bit harder." Perhaps a basketball team in the midst of an 82-game schedule may have some off performances, but when the playoffs come around the intensity is certainly there.

But gymnastics isn't a traditional team sport.

Competitors must not only execute, they need to determine what skills and what level of difficulty they will put into a routine. In Horton's case, he opted to make significant changes to his high-bar routine just three days before competing for an Olympic medal.

“It pretty much went silent in the gym when I was practicing and everyone was coming up to us and asking, ‘Is he really going to do this?’ ” said Horton via the New York Times. “But I didn’t want to hold back. I didn’t want to have any regrets. I wanted to go big or go home.”

Horton had placed fourth at the World Championships the year before and was determined to not miss out on making the Olympic podium.

Olympic athletes are given very few opportunities to reach the podium. Horton knew he might only have one shot and made sure he didn't walk away thinking "what if..." 

“He’s always been kind of a riverboat gambler,” coach Mark Williams said after the performance. “We took a risk, and it paid off.”

The payoff was an Olympic silver medal. A small shuffle-step on his landing likely cost him the gold, but Horton wasn't about to complain. It was the only individual medal won by the team in Beijing.

The 2008 team watched many of their goals fade when Paul and Morgan Hamm were lost to injury, but they still took the bronze in the men's team finals.

Horton will be joined by four teammates that are competing in their first Olympic games. However, three of them were on the 2011 team that took bronze at the World Championships.

They were just 0.010 points behind Japan, and the team will look to Horton's experience and leadership to improve their team performance in London.

The only individual medal won in 2011 was a gold in parallel bars by Danell Leyva.

Horton knows the individual events require an element of risk to be rewarded. Jake Dalton will be a favorite in the floor in London, but his routine in 2011 only had a difficulty level of 8.6. This was 0.2 points behind teammate Steven Legendre and other top competitors.

As much as anyone, Dalton needs to take a page from Horton's guide and bump up his difficulty level on the floor.

Look for Dalton, Leyva, Sam Mikulak and John Orozco to take their best possible routines to London.

Odds are, though, they've learned one other lesson from Dalton and are working on those routines now, not 72 hours before it is time to perform.