© John Cheng
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Oct. 22, 2010 — Jonathan Horton of Houston won the men’s all-around bronze medal at the 2010 World Championships at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Rebecca Bross of Plano, Texas, and Alexandra Raisman of Needham, Mass., will represent the USA in the women’s all-around, which begins at 7:30 p.m. locally (1:30 p.m. ET) today.
"Jon has worked very hard for this," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, "and we are extremely proud of this accomplishment for him and the team."
"I am beyond happy, but not satisfied," said Horton. "If you know the real Jon Horton, you know I want to be the best and I want my team to be the best. This is awesome. I have wanted this all my life – to be a world medalist. Right now I am exhausted but I want to keep training. I want to get back in the gym already. I am ecstatic right now."
The race for second and third in the all-around came down to the last rotation. Horton just missed the silver, finishing less than two tenths-of-a-point behind Germany’s Philipp Boy. As expected, Japan’s Kohei Uchimura won the all-around gold medal with a 92.331 total. Boy was second at 90.048, followed by Horton at 89.864. This is the USA’s first all-around world medal since 2003 when Paul Hamm won the title. The USA’s Danell Leyva of Miami/Universal Gymnastics, also competed in the all-around final, posting an 86.856 to place 18th. Due to the schedule, the men had less than 24 hours between the conclusion of the team finals and the all-around.
"It was an amazing performance by Jon this afternoon," said Kevin Mazeika, men’s national team coordinator. "I could not be prouder of him. He fought hard from start to finish and held true to the USA motto of always fighting – especially after coming off team finals last night where he competed five events. It also was an incredible turnaround from last year’s World Championships (where he placed 17th). The entire USA Team is so proud of him and this medal is huge for us."
Horton, who trains at Cypress Gymnastics, had a solid pommel horse routine, finishing with his double pirouette dismount. On rings, he had a good set and nailed his double-twisting, double-tuck dismount. Horton had two steps when he landed his handspring, double-front vault. After three events, Horton was sixth in the rankings.
Horton had his best parallel bars routine of the week, featuring great peach work and a giant double pike before finishing with a Morisue and sticking his double-pike dismount. On the horizontal bar, Horton’s routine included a layout full-twisting Kovacs, layout Kovacs and a tucked full-twisting Kovacs with a solid layout full-out dismount.
Horton’s event scores were: 14.866, floor exercise; 13.833, pommel horse; 15.366, still rings; 15.566, vault; 15.200, parallel bars; and 15.033, horizontal bar.
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Bouncing back from pommel horse, Leyva performed a Johanssen to cross, Yamawaki and a half-in/half-out dismount on still rings. He also took a small step when landing his Kasamatsu full vault. Leyva followed his parallel bars routine with a well-executed high bar set that included a Takemoto full, layout Kovacs, a full-twisting Takemoto and his double twisting, double layout dismount. Finishing up on floor, he had a clean routine that ended with a two-and-a-half whip and a stuck double layout dismount.
Leyva’s event scores, in the order he competed, were: 12.900, pommel horse; 14.325, still rings; 15.666; vault; 13.566, parallel bars; 15.666, horizontal bar; and 14.733, floor exercise.
"It wasn’t perfect, but it was definitely pretty good," said Leyva, who was competing in his first all-around final at a World Championships. "I fought back in a lot of different areas, and I’m proud of that. It was a great experience. My first World Championships all-around – it was awesome."
On Saturday, Oct. 23, and Sunday, Oct. 24, the World Championships wrap up with the individual event finals. The U.S. women competing in the individual event finals are: vault – Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass./Brestyan’s; uneven bars – Bross and Bridget Sloan of Pittsboro, Ind./Sharp’s Gymnastics; balance beam – Bross and Sacramone; and floor exercise – Raisman. The men competing in the individual event finals are: floor exercise – Steven Legendre of Flower Mound, Texas; and horizontal bar – Chris Brooks of Houston/University of Oklahoma and Leyva. Brandon Wynn of Voorhees, N.J./Ohio State University, is the first reserve athlete for still rings.
For individual events, the top eight on each apparatus from the qualification rounds advance to the finals (Oct. 23-24). A maximum of two gymnasts per country advances to the all-around and individual event finals.
Fans can follow the action on both Universal Sports and NBC Sports. Universal Sports is carrying a live webcast on universalsports.com and providing same-day, tape-delayed primetime broadcasts on its cable network for all of the final rounds, as well as hosting "Around the Gym, presented by AT&T" after each night’s broadcast to recap the day’s performance and preview the upcoming competition. The live webcast for all of the final rounds is only $9.99 with the code USAGYMFAN. NBC Sports will broadcast coverage on Oct. 23 and 24. For the complete web and TV schedules, go to usagym.org/worlds.
On its official website usagym.org/worlds, USA Gymnastics will provide enhanced coverage from Rotterdam that will include results and exclusive photos from the competition as well as daily video interviews. USA Gymnastics will also post event updates on its Facebook and Twitter pages and provide LIVE team scores and rankings from each day of Team USA competition @USA_GymEvents.
In addition to awarding world medals, the 2010 World Championships also determine the 24 countries that advance to the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo. Countries have two opportunities to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games, finishing in the top eight in the team competition at the 2011 World Championships or in the top four at the 2012 Olympic Test Event in London. World champions and medalists will be determined for both men and women in the team, all-around and individual events.
2010 World Championships
Ahoy Arena
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Oct. 22, 2010
Men’s all-around finals
1. Kohei Uchimura, Japan, 92.331
2. Philipp Boy, Germany, 90.048
3. Jonathan Horton, USA/Houston, 89.864