John Orozco: Gymnastics Star Will Lead Team USA to Gold

Now the men have our attention.

All eyes were on Team USA’s women’s gymnastics squad going into the 2012 Summer Olympics, but John Orozco and the men have forced their way into the spotlight. Orozco, as well as Danell Leyva, carried his teammates to the top of the point standings in the qualifying round, ahead of heavily-favored China and Japan.

Expect Orozco and company to finish what they started, win the gold medal and shock the world.

Despite being a special talent, Orozco was overlooked heading into the London competitions. Leyva headlined the U.S. men’s team, which seemed destined to fall short against the gymnastics juggernauts that are China and Japan. After all, the Japanese boasted the world champ Kohei Uchimura. The Americans had no hope.

Now, though, Orozco is in the individual all-around final and has Team USA not thinking bronze, but gold.

Jason Carroll and Vivienne Foley of CNN reported that Orozco’s former coach, Carl Schrade, raved about his pupil’s hunger to improve. Orozco was so promising that Schrade occasionally trained him for free when he didn’t have the money. He said of the now-Olympic star: “People ask me if he's a once in a lifetime gymnast, and I joke around and say he's a once in a hundred lifetimes gymnast.”

Team USA entered the Olympics as underdogs. But those who didn’t see them as a legitimate threat for gold weren’t showing disrespect—their skepticism was justified.

At the 2011 World Championship in Tokyo, China and Japan dominated everything and forced the Americans to settle for bronze. While the U.S. boasted plenty of talent, they failed to fulfill their potential when it mattered most.

In London, though, something seems to have clicked. Team USA is firing on all cylinders. And after outperforming China and Japan in the qualifying round, no one is underestimating them.

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

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