Danell Leyva
Danell Leyva Johan Gonzalez (born 30 October 1991 in Cardenas, Cuba ) is an American gymnast of Cuban origin. His biggest success in 2011 was winning the world title on the parallel bars. At a height of 1.70 meters his competition weight is 72 kilograms.
Life
Childhood and education
Danell Leyva was born the son of the unmarried Maria Gonzalez and Johan Leyva in Cuba. His mother was also a gymnast devices. Maria Gonzalez had graduated from the Cuban national gymnastics academy in their youth and consulted as an athlete to the national squad. Later she worked as a youth coach for the Cuban Association in Havana. Leyva father now lives separately from the family in Spain. Although he is in contact with his biological father, he has never met him personally. Also he has never visited his homeland, Cuba.
Leyva grew up with an older sister, who report collaborates with a Spanish TV show. At the age of five months, he began to suffer from severe breathing problems. He suffered from allergies and asthma and had to be treated every few weeks in the hospital. Due to his health and inadequate medical treatment in Cuba, his mother in 1993 decided to leave the kids to the country, while the biological father Leyva remained in Cuba. During a stay in Peru fled, the respected trainer traveled for several months with their children through Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua. Eventually the family to the United States emigrate, where Leyva maternal grandfather was fled to Miami. In Miami Leyva mother met the previous turn colleagues Yin Alvarez from his time with the Cuban Gymnastics Academy again, who had claims to have fled in 1992 during a stay in Mexico over the Rio Grande in the United States and has resided there since 1995 a new existence as an operator of a gymnasium built. The couple married in 2001 and moved up together Leyva, who had to be treated with medication up to the age of twelve.
The mother recognized the talent of her son initially not they in retrospect described in his childhood as uncoordinated and overweight ( "He had flat feet, too long arms, breathing problems. He did not understand how you could jump and looked weird when he ran. "). Nevertheless Leyva could begin between four and five years of age with physical education classes, after he saw video footage of mother and stepfather. He was promoted especially by her stepfather Yin Alvarez. After Leyva regularly pursued training, his mother took him as a first grader from school and arranged for private lessons so that he could spend in the gym with the advanced students more time.
Rise in the world's top
Leyva is still coached by his stepfather Yin Alverez, who leads the sports club Universal Gymnastics in Homestead, south of Miami. In the junior level Leyva started for the first time in 2006 at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas. In the same year Leyva won the all-around, floor exercises and stretching competition and a silver medal on the parallel bars at the U.S. Junior Championships in Saint Paul ( Minnesota). At the championships a year later in Oklahoma City, he was the title in the all around and high bar defended and won the exercise on the parallel bars.
After it was Leyva in 2008 have failed to qualify for the U.S. gymnastics squad at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he won the 2009 the bars competition at the Winter Cup, the U.S. champion title on high bar with the seniors and in the same year in the national U.S. seniors team called. International Leyva joined the seniors in the same year at the World Cup in Montreal in appearance, where he reached fourth place at the victory of the Chinese Zou Kai on high bar. The World Gymnastics Championships 2009 in London Leyva came in the apparatus finals on high bar, where he finished fourth. 2010 won the Turner U.S. championship title on the parallel bars and went at the World Championships in Rotterdam except at the jump in all disciplines at the start. This Leyva again reached the apparatus finals on high bar, where he finished fifth with the team and fourth place. In multiplayer battle he reached the 18th place.
2011 won Leyva in Saint Paul ( Minnesota) for the first time the U.S. all-around title against Jonathan Horton and the competitions on parallel bars and high bar. In the following World Championships in Tokyo, he joined again in seven of the eight disciplines, except for the jump. With bronze in the team competition, he won his first World Championship medal, while he finished third in all-around after third place in qualifying only 24th and final spot in the finals. Leyva had received a low score on vault in the all-around final. On stretching, the last device in the competition, he had hit the flight element Liukin with his chin on the horizontal bar and crashed by the device. Slightly disoriented, he had to be led by his coach Yin Alverez of the mat. The previous peak in Leyva career followed a few days later with the apparatus finals on bars, where he was at age 19 the youngest participant. With 15,633 points, he became world champion in front of the Greek Vasileios Tsolakidis and the Chinese Zhang Chenglong (both each 15,533 points). He overtook the first gold medal at the World Championships for the United States since the victories of Paul Hamm's in 2003 in the all around and on the ground.
2012 defended Leyva in San Jose (California ), the U.S. champion title on parallel bars and high bar, while he was expelled in the all around of John Orozco on second place. In qualifying for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he won again in the all around, parallel bars and high bar. At the Olympics, he missed the U.S. team a medal and finished fifth. However, Leyva won with 91 265 points, the all-around qualification and reached the apparatus finals on high bar. The coach of the U.S. Olympic team in the men, Kevin Mazeika, especially emphasized his aggressiveness, which would have distinguished him as a young athlete. In the all-around final Leyva won by, among other top scores on parallel bars and high bar with 90 698 points the bronze medal behind the favored multiple world champion Kohei Uchimura of Japan ( 92 690 ) and the German Marcel Nguyen ( 91 031 ). He also reached the apparatus finals on high bar, where he met with a score of 15,833 finished the Olympic victory of the Dutchman Epke Zonderland ( 16 533 points) in fifth place.
Danell Leyva lives in Miami, Florida. He is one of the draw, the bars and the floor at his favorite devices. As hobbies called Leyva, who speaks Spanish, among other things, playing music, painting and drawing. After his career as a gymnast, he plans to pursue a career as a musician or actor.