Rio Olympics 2016: U.S. team alternate Danell Leyva wins two silvers in gymnastics
Leyva seized his chance and made the most of it
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1 min read
It was a bit of a surprise when American gymnast Danell Leyva was not selected to be a competing athlete for the 2016 Olympics. Leyva, who took home a bronze medal four years ago in London, was chosen to serve as a team alternate. Leyva was the only U.S. male gymnast to bring home a medal in 2012.
Well, he got his redemption on Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro. When teammate John Orozco went down with an injury during training, Leyva was tabbed to replace him and did not disappoint, earning a pair of silver medals.
Leyva got his day started with a second-place finish in the parallel bars competition, recording a score of 15.900. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev (16.041) took the gold. Later in the day, Leyva once again won a silver medal, this time in the horizontal bar final. His 15.500 score was just behind that of Germany's Fabian Hambuchen (15.766).
"It's incredible. It's a dream come true," Leyva told reporters. "Nobody has a perfect day, but this is as close to perfect as I could have gotten. I'm incredibly happy."
The U.S. men's gymnastics team won in three medals in Rio, with Alex Naddour earning bronze on the pommel horse on Sunday.
