US Olympic Gymnastics Team: Danell Leyva Is a Lock to Bring Home Gold

Danell Leyva was bred for this moment.

The Cuban-American is the star of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team in the 2012 Summer Olympics. Considering that Leyva’s step-father and mother are former members of Cuba’s national gymnastics team, Leyva’s rise is no surprise. The 20-year-old is as gifted as they come and he’ll win multiple gold medals in London.

Chris Clark of NBC reported that Leyva talked about his Olympic dreams heading into the event. He said:

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I don't want to be a cocky person but at the same time if you have a goal you always have to see yourself accomplishing that goal, otherwise you're not gonna make it. One of my biggest goals since becoming a gymnast was to be an Olympic champion.

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Leyva specified that by “Olympic champion”, he didn’t just want to be a champion in a single event. After his father and coach Yin Alvarez said that he’s hoping for four medals in London, Leyva responded (via NBC): “He wants four medals. I want four golds.”

The four golds that Leyva will be in the running for include the team and individual all-around, as well as the horizontal and parallel bars.

He is a five-time gold medalist on the parallel bars in competitions that consist of World, Pacific Rim and U.S. Visa National Championships. Leyva also boasts four horizontal bar gold medals, and if it weren’t for a fall in Tokyo’s 2011 World Champions, he’d likely have five. He should be favored to win each of those events.

Now, Leyva hasn’t had the same frequency of success in all-around competition. While he has multiple team and individual medals, it’d take an extraordinary effort to win the quartet of honors.

If anyone could pull it off, though, it’d be Leyva because again, no gymnast will enter the Olympics more prepared. His parents have guaranteed that. Alvarez said that there’s no doubt in his mind that his son will blow up in London (via NBC):

"We're sure about it. We visualize everything before it happens. We're dreaming of this for many years and he's going to be an Olympic champion.”

While Jordyn Wieber, Gabby Douglas and the women’s team has received most of the attention thus far, when it’s all said and done, Leyva definitely won’t be forgotten.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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