USA’s Danell Leyva Wins Two Olympic Silvers In Parallel Bars, High Bar

Danell Leyva wasn’t even supposed to be competing in the Rio 2016 Olympics, and now he has become Team USA”s most decorated male gymnast.

USA’s Danell Leyva Wins Two Olympic Silvers In Parallel Bars, High Bar

Leyva, 24, claimed silver on both parallel bars and high bar on Tuesday in the final day of gymnastics competition in Rio, thus completing a three-month journey from injury to alternate to medalist.

“Nobody has a perfect day, but I feel like this was this as close to perfect as I possibly could have gotten,” Leyva said, “and I’m incredibly happy.”

In early May, Levya broke up a fight between his dogs and was bitten in the left leg and hand.

“When I had the dog on my leg, I was just thinking, really, right now?” Leyva said. “This had to happen right now?”

And one can’t blame him for thinking that. He was relegated to alternate status when the U.S. men’s Olympic Gymnastics team was announced in late June. He wasn’t added to the five-man squad until John Orozco injured his left knee a month ago.

It wasn’t the way Leyva expected to make the team, and he added the medals were Orozco as much as they were for himself.

“You have to believe within yourself that you can do more than what people expect,” said Leyva.

On Tuesday, he did just that, performing a clean, smooth parallel bars routine that scored a 15.900 for the highest mark in months. Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev, this year’s all-around silver medalist, scored a 16.041 to win gold in the event where he has evidently been the best gymnast all week.

Next came the high bar. Leyva went last on that event, performing a high-flying routine with big finishes. He scored a 15.500, knocking teammate Sam Mikulak off the podium.

Lleyva and gold medalist Fabian Hambuechen of Germany had the highest difficulty score in the event.

“I think this is the two best routines he’s ever done,” said Yin Alvarez, Leyva’s stepfather and coach.

Lleyva won the bronze medal in the all-around at the London 2012 Games. On Tuesday, he seemed to beam with unbridled happiness after receiving his back-to-back silver medals, which he won within the span of about an hour.

“Even when I was on the podium I was looking over at the high bar and I was like: ‘I’m going to get you now, boy,'” he said.

Leyva’s coach and stepfather also expressed how proud he felt.

“For me, I thought the Olympics was over. So when he was named the alternate, I can breathe,” said Alvarez. “Because I think we not even come here to see the Olympics. I think it was over. Four years of hard work was over. So when I get the chance that he be the alternate, I feel so proud.”

Leyva’s two medals gave the U.S. men three for the Games; Alex Naddour won bronze on the pommel horse on Sunday. But his two combined with the gold and silver won by Simone Biles and Aly Raisman in the women’s floor exercise, gave the United States 12 total gymnastics medals, the most ever for the country.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 16: (L to R) Silver medalist Danell Leyva of the United States poses for photographs at the medal ceremony for the Parallel Bars on Day 11 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena on August 16, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena