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Leyva began his afternoon's work with the parallel bars and
completed it with the horizontal bar, from which he had fallen
during last week's men's team final.
"This was absolutely a redemption, not only for me but for the
team as well. My success is as much for the team as it is for
me," he said.
Leyva had not been expecting to compete in Rio, but gained his
place because of a knee injury to John Orozco.
He is coached by his ebullient step-father Yin Alvarez, who
skipped with elation after watching him win his second medal of
the day.
"Super-happy. As a coach, (I'm) very happy, my job is done. And
his job is amazing. And as a father, what can I say?" Alvarez
said.
The horizontal bar was won by Fabian Hambuechen of Germany and
the parallel bars by Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev, whom Leyva warmly
embraced after the contest.
"He's like my brother, man. We've known each other for a long
time. We're super-close and it's incredibly humbling to see each
other have success like that. I was incredibly happy. He
deserved that medal more than anything," the American said.
In the second event, the climax of the artistic gymnastics
program in Rio, Leyva performed last after enduring a
nerve-wracking wait.
"It couldn't have been more perfect. It is kind of an honor to
know that my routine was the one that closed out the Olympics
and I did it with a routine like that and I'm incredibly happy,"
he said. "I couldn't have asked for more."
(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan and Pritha Sarkar, editing by Jan
Harvey)
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