RIO DE JANEIRO— There are a million paths to the Olympic podium. The path taken by gymnast Danell Leyva was a bloody miracle.
He came off the bench for Team USA to win not one but two silver medals.
His high-flying, odds-defying performances on the parallel bars and the horizontal bar were so inspiring that prior to his second medal-winning routine, fellow U.S. gymnast Simone Biles abruptly interrupted her news conference with two dozen reporters, spun on her heels and dashed to watch on television.
“Just a second,” Biles said Tuesday. “I’ve got to see this.”
When Leyva scored 15.500 on the horizontal bar to finish second behind Germany’s Fabian Hambuechen, the loudest shriek of delight in the arena might have been from Biles.
Why? Leyva wasn’t supposed to be in Brazil, much less be a hero.
In May, while breaking up a fight between family bulldogs named Pirata and Hercules, the 24-year-old gymnast got his left leg mangled by snarling teeth. “When I had the dog on my leg, I was just thinking: ‘Really? Right now? This had to happen now?’ ” Leyva recalled.
The dogs, which had bitten him in the past, were put down. For days, Leyva could not walk. For weeks, a fierce competitor who won bronze in the all-around competition during the London Games could not train. At less than his best, Leyva was named an alternate after the U.S. Olympic Trials in June.
“For me, I thought the Olympics was over,” said Yin Alvarez, Leyva’s stepfather and coach. “I think we not even come here to see the Olympics. Four years of hard work was over. So when I get the call that he was named an alternate, I said: ‘Thank you very much!’ ”
Leyva got into the U.S. starting lineup only because teammate John Orozco tore up his knee during training less than a month before the Games began.
Do you believe in fate? Leyva awoke Tuesday morning, and from the time he exited his morning shower, could not stop smiling. He believed medals were his destiny. He won the first one by scoring 15.900 on the parallel bars. When his leg was a bloody mess, how would Leyva have reacted if somebody told him at the time that one silver would be only half his haul from the Games?
Leyva laughed and replied: “I probably would have argued with you and said: ‘No, I’m going to win gold!’ ”
