Danell Leyva Brings Home Bronze For U.S. In Gymnastics All-Around

Danell Leyva's High Bar Routine Secures Bronze Medal

Danell Leyva's high bar routine was the last of his six in the men's gymnastics all-around competition on Wednesday. It was also a very good one, one that secured his bronze medal in the event.

The high bar is the equivalent of the uneven bars for men's gymnastics, but it swaps the precision of the uneven bars' transitions for the power of the flips male gymnasts pull on it. For example, the one to the right, in which Leyva whips himself around for a backflip.

Leyva was America's best hope for a medal in the all-around event, and he got it done with this routine, which ended up netting him a 15.700, tops in the event on the day.

The backflip wasn't Leyva's only strong move in the routine, as he also pulled off a flip that had a twist to it, but it wasn't until Leyva's dismount that he was well and truly assured of a great routine.

Leyva steps out a bit, but you can tell from the cheers of the crowd as he straightens out that he had done something good. Indeed, it was good enough to win the first medal for an American in the men's all-around since Paul Hamm touched gold in 2004, and only the second since 1984.

You can find a complete medal tracker at SI.com.

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Kohei Uchimura Wins Gymnastics All-Around, American Danell Leyva Gets Bronze

The world's best male gymnast has his gold. Japan's Kohei Uchimura, arguably the great male gymnast ever, won the individual all around Wednesday night in London at the Summer Olympics, posting a score of 92.690. The silver medalist at the Beijing games scored the highest routines in two of the six rotations: vault and high bar.

The gold medal is the exclamation point of an astonishing few years for Uchimura, who is the first male gymnast to win three consecutive world all-around titles (2009, 2010 and 2011). He also becomes the first Japanese man to win the Olympic all-around gold in 28 years (Koji Gushiken, 1984).

American Danell Leyva, the top qualifier heading into the finals, scored a 90.698 to win the bronze medal. Germany's Marcel Nguyen (91.031) grabbed the silver medal. John Orozco, the other member of Team USA in competition, was 8th.

Halfway through the six rotations, Uchimura was leading the field, followed closely by countryman Kazuhito Tanaka, while Leyva was a distant 16th.

John Orozco started strong with a 15.433 on floor, but then was pummeled by the pommel horse, scoring just a 12.566. He struggled through his whole routine and then had a poor dismount, coming to a full stop and having difficulty holding his handstand. Orozco was nearly crying on the sidelines, knowing his medal hopes had all but vanished.

Danell Leyva didn't fair much better. After his strong opening on floor (15.366, third-highest score), he managed just a 13.500 on the horse. After the first two rotations, Leyva and Orozco were in 17th and 22nd place, respectively, out of 24 competitors.

Heading into the final rotation, Uchimura led Tanaka by just 1.616 points, with Nguyen in third and Leyva a seemingly distant sixth. But Leyva had saved his best for last, posting the highest score of the competition on high bar, a 15.700. His clutch routine, couple with Tanaka's fall off the horse, was enough to propel the American onto the medal podium. Tanaka ended up in fifth place overall.

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2012 Olympic Streaming For Men's Gymnastics Individual All-Around Final

Men’s individual gymnastics all-around is set to begin Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. London time, 11:30 a.m. ET. Like most every major event, it will be tape-delayed for NBC’s primetime coverage (begins at 8 p.m. ET), but fear not, you can get your live gymnastics fix using NBC’s online stream.

Team USA will look to rebound from its disappointing team final performance with John Orozco and Danell Leyva representing the Americans in the all-around. Leyva put up the top score in qualifying, but it is generally thought that Orozco has the better chance of medaling. Both men, and everyone else, will be chasing Japan’s Kohei Uchimura. Uchimura took silver in Beijing and has won the last three world championships, the first ever male gymnast to do so. The Chinese team, who won the team final, does not have any competitors in the individual all-around.

Orozco and Leyva will begin on floor then move to pommel horse, followed by rings, vault, and parallel bars before ending on horizontal bar. Uchimura will start on pommel horse and end with the floor.

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Men's Gymnastics: TV Coverage, Event Schedule For Wednesday

As the 2012 Summer Olympics continue in London, the men's gymnastics competition will take center stage.