Danell Johan Leyva (born October 30, 1991) is a Cuban-American former gymnast who competed for the United States. He is the 2012 Olympic individual all-around bronze medalist and 2016 Olympic parallel bars and horizontal bar silver medalist. He is also the 2011 US national all-around gold medalist and the 2011 world champion on the parallel bars. With a combined total of 8 Olympic and World Championships medals, Leyva is the second most decorated American male gymnast after Paul Hamm.
In gymnastics, Leyva was a specialist on parallel bars and horizontal bar, having his own signature move (jam-dislocate-hop to undergrips) on the latter.
Personal life
Leyva has a sister, Dayanis Mesa, who is a television host. His stepfather and coach, Yin Alvarez (famous for his sideline theatrics during Danell's routines) and mother, Maria Gonzalez, were both members of Cuba's national gymnastics team. Gonzalez and Leyva defected to Miami when Leyva was two years old. Alvarez defected by swimming across the Rio Grande to the United States while his team was competing in Mexico. Together, Alvarez and Gonzalez opened a gym in Miami several years later, and they married in 2001. Leyva's biological father, Johan Leyva, lives in Spain.
On October 11, 2020, for National Coming Out Day, Leyva revealed via Twitter that he identifies as bisexual and pansexual.
Junior career
Leyva competed at his first Winter Cup in 2006. He went on to compete in the junior division of the US National Championships, where he came 1st all-around, won gold on floor exercise and horizontal bar, and tied for silver on parallel bars.
In 2008, at the Junior National Championships, Leyva won the all-around, high bar, parallel bars, and pommel horse titles. He was also the horizontal bar champion at the 2008 Pan American Gymnastics Championships in Argentina. He went on to be chosen as part of the 2008 Pacific Rim Championships team and competed in San Jose, California. The US team won gold, and Leyva won gold in the all-around and bronze on parallel bars in the junior division finals.
Senior career
2009
In 2009, he became the youngest member of the US senior national team at age 17, and at the National Championships won the gold medal on the horizontal bar and the silver medal on the parallel bars. He was chosen as one of four US male gymnasts to compete at the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in London. He qualified to the horizontal bar final, where he placed 4th.
2010
After winning medals on his two best events (horizontal bar and parallel bars) at the Winter Cup, he was selected for the men's team to compete at the Pacific Rim Championships in Melbourne. He won individual titles on horizontal bar and parallel bars, as well as a bronze medal on still rings. He also qualified to the all-around and pommel horse finals, where he placed 7th in both events. In the summer he once again competed at the 2010 US National Championships, where he became the US gold medalist on the parallel bars and the all-around silver medalist. He was chosen for the team to compete at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. In Rotterdam, he contributed to the team's 4th-place finish and also qualified to the horizontal bar final, where he placed in 5th.
2011
At the 2011 US National Championships, Leyva beat reigning national champion and world bronze medalist Jonathan Horton in the all-around, winning his first all-around US National Championship at the senior level. He also won the parallel bars and horizontal bar titles. He was subsequently chosen to be one of the anchors for the US team at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, which won the bronze medal. This was the first time the US men's team had won medals at the World Championships since 2003. Leyva qualified to the all-around final, but his chin crashed into the horizontal bar in his last rotation, and he was unable to complete his routine, resulting in a 24th-place finish. He rallied for event finals, where he won gold on parallel bars.