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CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. John Orozco and the United States mens gymnastics team will go for the team's first gold medal since 1984 Monday in the finals at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Orozco helped lead the United States to a first-place ranking in the qualifying round Saturday. The Americans tallied 275.342 points, which put them ahead of second-place Russia's 272.595 points.
Orozco also had a fantastic individual debut in the Olympics, as he placed fourth in the individual standings with 90.597 points. His teammate, Danell Leyva, came in first with 91.265 points.
The 19-year-old Bronx native, who trained at World Cup Gymnastics in Chappaqua, earned 15.166 points on the floor exercises, 14.766 points on the pommel horse, 15.066 points on the rings, 15.800 points on the vault, 14.533 points on the parallel bars and 15.266 points on the horizontal bar.
Orozco and Leyva both advanced to the individual all-around finals, as well. The top 24 individual all-around athletes from the qualifying round make the finals with a maximum of two athletes from each nation.
"We have a lot of first-timers here at the Olympics and considering that, I think we did really good, Orozco said, according to USA Gymnastics. For me I could do way better. I lost eight- or nine-tenths of a point on parallel bars because they didn't count one of my skills (because of execution). But I'm happy about vault. I'm trying to keep focused and not get too excited. I'm definitely happy with how things happened, even though it may not show."
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