John Orozco, Rising In The Gymnastics World

John Orozco will be a teenager until the end of the calendar year, but in his sport he is all grown up!

Orozco won the Visa National Championship in the all-around competition. He edged 2011 champion Danell Leyva by just five- hundredths of a point to win the championship.

Now, Orozco prepares for an even bigger stage, the biggest in gymnastics: The 2012 Olympics in London. John Orozco started gymnastics as an eight year-old. The youngest of five children growing up in the Bronx, it was apparent early on that Orozco had a rare talent. His mother drove him to and from his gym in Chappaqua, 30 miles away from the Bronx to give this blossoming career a chance.

In 2007 Orozco won the Junior Visa National Championships and represented the United States in the Junior Pan-American games as an alternate. His Olympic appearance is the cultivation of years of hard work. Orozco delayed his college plans, after graduating high school last year, in order to train to make this team.

He put it all on the line for the Olympics, and now his dream is a reality.  Fresh off his National Championship in the all around, he leads teammates Danell Leyva, Jonathan Horton, Sam Mikulak, and Jake Dalton to London. This youngster from the Bronx has a chance to win the hearts of Americans everywhere, as he and his teammates take their shot at gold in London.