Jonathan Horton has the collection of medals and accolades of a male gymnast who has been among the best in the country since 2006, when he made his first world championship team.
But it's his wife, Haley, whose work ethic and study habits he praises during a recent interview. The two met while both were gymnasts at the University of Oklahoma and married in 2009. She is now in medical school at the University of Texas-Houston while her husband trains for his second Olympics.
The 26-year-old Horton is the only member of the 2008 Olympic men's gymnastics team to return for London. Four years ago in Beijing, he was part of the U.S. squad that won bronze in the team competition. He earned silver on the horizontal bar.
The Houston native made a successful comeback despite having surgery last year to repair a torn ligament in his left foot. He was injured while competing at the 2011 world championships in Japan, where the Americans won the team bronze. At last week's U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials in San Jose, Horton finished third in the all-around and claimed a spot on the five-man team for London. He posted the top score in rings.
He spoke to reporters at the U.S. Olympic Committee media summit in Dallas in May.
"My wife just finished her second year of medical school. I don't know which has been more challenging for her, finishing her gymnastics career or two years of medical school. It been kind of a roller-coaster ride for her. She's gotten through the hardest part. They always say that the end of your second year is the hardest. I've never seen anyone sit down and study for 12 hours straight. But it's pretty unbelievable. She's got like a built-up endurance for studying now. Now she gets to do to the fun stuff - doing clinical, rotations.
She is actually going to have the opportunity to skip a rotation and make a trip to London to watch. I think every person in medical school gets a six-week break. She's really looking forward to it, because she didn't get to go to Beijing.
Now I know what to expect. I think going into Beijing, I was just kind of going into it blind. I had no idea how big the Olympics was. I had watched it on TV, but you don't really understand how big of an event it is until you step off the airplane. It's crazy.
I would say I'm much more disciplined, I'm older. Twenty-six is pretty old for a male gymnast; most guys retire right out of college when they're 21, 22. I've learned how to become more efficient, smarter with my body. I eat better, I sleep better. Experience has kind of come into play. I feel like I know what I'm doing more now.
I feel like being the only returning Olympian from 2008, I am kind of in that leadership role. I've been the captain for the past two world championship teams. I just try to do my best to be there for the guys and be a listening ear or be someone who leads through what I say and by what I do. I want everyone to feel they can count on me to do the best that I possibly can when times are most intense in the sport.
The best advice I've ever gotten from a coach is probably from my personal coach. It's very simple, something he tells me every single day. It's to never compromise. Don't ever make any compromises in anything that I do. My coach Tom Meadows has been telling me that since I was a little kid. If you go to a meet, don't change anything just because the equipment might feel a little bit different or you might not feel as great one day. Don't compromise how you warm up or how you eat, how you sleep. Make sure everything's the same. It will help you get back into that routine of what you feel like you do every day."
He could "take on the leadership role" with me as well (if you know what I mean, nudge nudge, wink wink)
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