By Daniel Gibson
Action photos by John Cheng
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Jonathan Horton began his gymnastics career when he used his parents' bed to practice flips at the age of four years old. While the other kids were playing around in the foam pit, Horton was working on twists and flips.

That was only a small glimpse of what was to come.

After watching the 1996 Olympic Games, Horton decided he wanted to dedicate himself to gymnastics and experience the Olympics for himself.

"The 1996 Atlanta Olympics was probably one of the most successful years for United States gymnastics," Horton said. "With the Magnificent Seven, it had a lot of household names, including people like Shannon Miller and Dominique Moceanu. They won the gold medal and I remember watching (and thinking) that that's what I want to do. I want to take this seriously. I want to go to the Olympics and win a medal myself. I was 11 years old at the time and it really inspired and motivated me."

Horton was determined to compete for a medal of his own.

The words persistent and motivated are used when Horton describes himself. The years following his decision to pursue his Olympic dreams fully embody those words.

In 2002, Horton was the junior national still rings and vault champion, finished fourth in the all-around at the 2003 Pan-American Games, and placed 13th at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials.

He entered the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 2004. While in college Horton was given the nickname "X-Games" because his friends said he was so extreme.

Freshman year he earned two all-around and more than 10 event titles, a combination of NCAA and outside competitions, and made the U.S. National Team. The following year, he won six all-around and 13 event titles. As a college junior, Horton broke Bart Conner's records for career NCAA titles (five) and career All-America honors (15), and tied his own school record for All-American honors in a single season.(five). In his final year at OU, Horton won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's all-around and rings titles, was one of five finalists for the 78th AAU James E. Sullivan award, and received the 2008 Nissen-Emery Award as the country's top senior male gymnast. He helped OU take home its fifth national title in seven years, and he finished second in the all-around and won still rings. Horton finished first in the weighted all-around rankings at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and was one of two gymnasts named to the U.S. Olympic Team after the Trials' two-day competition.

At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Horton was the only American male to win an individual medal. He earned a silver in the horizontal bar competition.

Winning the silver medal was a tremendous accomplishment but Horton doesn't have that ranked as his top achievement. That top spot is reserved for the team bronze medal that the United States won in Beijing.

"We had so many things against us at that time and a lot of people said that we wouldn't even make it to the final day of competition," Horton said. "And if we did we probably wouldn't make it out of eighth place. To go there and prove everybody wrong and win a bronze medal as a team and to stand on the podium, not by myself but with five other guys around me, was probably the greatest success I have had in sports to this day."

Horton has continued to achieve individual success. He won the men's all-around bronze medal at the 2010 World Championships at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Most recently, Horton went to Jacksonville, Fla., to compete at the 2011 AT&T American Cup, an International Gymnastics Federation World Cup event. Despite recovering from a broken thumb. Horton won the men's all-around title, besting an impressive international field. He also won this event in 2006 and 2007.

"It was awesome," said Horton. "This is the second time I've won here in Jacksonville. I worked as hard as I could to come back, especially after my thumb injury. I'm so happy it went well today."

While Horton has accomplished much throughout his career to this point, he is still fully committed to working hard and improving every day to earn his ultimate goal, an Olympic gold medal.

To stay in peak physical condition he eats chicken and potatoes nearly every day and has a strict workout regimen.

"I work out about six hours a day," Horton said. "I go in the morning from 10-12 and then I go back again in the afternoon from 2-6. My workouts consist of doing the same thing over and over again. It's pretty monotonous but the repetition is what you need in this sport. You have to do a million routines before you have it down."

Horton uses the double sessions to build up his body and to perfect his routines, but he understands that staying focused, dedicated, and persistent helps him to grow mentally as well.

"Mentally and physically you have to grow," Horton said. "You can't be successful without having the mental aspect. As you get older, you get a little stronger and a little more powerful. It's been a lot easier to learn things the older I get. And I change routines just about every event now. I'm still trying to add more difficulty and make them more exciting to watch. Along with increasing your routine (difficulty), you get a little more stressed because you know how difficult it is. You have to become mentally strong with what you are doing and trust yourself and your training and try to visualize success before it happens."

In addition to his dedication to pursuing his gymnastics dreams, Horton is also committed to his marriage to Haley DeProspero, a former OU gymnast who is currently in medical school.

"I got married about a year and a half ago so most of my free time I spend with my wife," Horton said. "We really enjoy seeing movies together and we are both kind of adrenaline junkies. We both have motorcycles. Most people see my wife and she's only 4'11" but she's not afraid to jump on a motorcycle and go pretty fast. We enjoy action sports and things like that. We go out and have a nice date and play golf every now and then."

When Horton is finished with competitive gymnastics, he doesn't plan on getting too far away from the sport.

"I have thought about some things to do after gymnastics," Horton said. "I haven't totally put my mind to it. I've done some small-time speaking engagements that I really enjoy and some stuff working with broadcasting. I've even thought about opening up my own gymnastics facility. It's a 'the sky is the limit' sort of thing. I'm not totally sure what I want to do yet."

These future plans will have to wait. Horton is focused on his training and competing right now, and he has proven time and time again that when he sets a goal he works extremely hard to reach it.