Danell Leyva: American Gymnast Will Rebound from Early Olympic Disappointment

Danell Leyva and Team USA's men's gymnastics team didn't get off to the best start to the London Games, but the Miami-raised star will use that disappointment to fuel a medal-worthy performance in the individual all-around.

While the women's side was able to take home the team gold, the men were unable to do the same, placing fifth in their team event. This loss has been placed on the shoulders of Leyva and teammate John Orozco by some media members, like Alexandra Gratereaux of Fox News.

That kind of criticism has the ability to motivate or ruin an athlete's performance during an event as huge as the Olympics. If his recent success in the all-around means anything, Leyva will rise to the occasion.

The U.S. National Team veteran has the 2011 gold as well as the 2010 and 2011 Visa National Championship medals in the all-around somewhere in his trophy room. There hasn't been anyone in America as accomplished in this event as Leyva in recent years.

On top of all his accolades, Leyva knows a thing or two about rebounding from a rough start. After banging his chin on the high bar during the 2011 World Championships all-around event that caused him to finish last, Leyva came back two days later to capture gold in parallel bars.

The lights at the World Championships don't shine nearly as bright as the Olympic stage ones do, but that ability to pick himself off the metaphorical mat shows that Leyva is ready to live up to his pre-London hype.

There will be stiff competition to reach the podium, with Germany's Fabian Hambuechen and Japan's Kohei Uchimura ready to challenge Leyva. While both competitors are accomplished in their own right, it would be unfair to write off the American due to his follies during the team event.

As Thomas Wayne said to his son Bruce in Batman Begins, "We fall so we can learn to pick ourselves back up."

Leyva has come back from similar falls as recently as last year, and will do so again after all is said and done during the all-around final.