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John Orozco

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John Orozco
Orozco at the 2016 Gymnastics Olympic Test Event
Personal information
Full nameJohn Orozco
Nickname(s)Silent Ninja
Country representedPuerto Rico
Former countries representedUnited States
Born (1992-12-30) December 30, 1992 (age 31)
The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb)
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team2011–2017 (United States)
GymUSOTC
Team Hilton HHonors
World Cup Gymnastics
Head coach(es)Vitaly Marinich
Former coach(es)Jason Hebert
Medal record
Representing  United States
Men's artistic gymnastics
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
World Championships 0 0 3
Pacific Rim Championships 6 3 0
Total 6 3 3
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Tokyo Team
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Antwerp Parallel bars
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Nanning Team
Pacific Rim Championships
Gold medal – first place 2014 Richmond Team
Gold medal – first place 2014 Richmond All-around
Gold medal – first place 2014 Richmond Parallel bars
Gold medal – first place 2014 Richmond Horizontal bar
Gold medal – first place 2016 Everett Team
Gold medal – first place 2016 Everett Horizontal bar
Silver medal – second place 2014 Richmond Floor
Silver medal – second place 2014 Richmond Rings
Silver medal – second place 2016 Everett Rings

John Orozco (born December 30, 1992) is an artistic gymnast who competed in the 2012 Olympics and is the 2012 U.S national champion. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team selected for the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team for the 2016 Olympic Games but withdrew on July 15, 2016, due to an ACL injury.[1] After graduating High School at 17, John trained for 7 years at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[2]

In 2020, he switched his affiliation to Puerto Rico for international competitions.

Early life and education

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Orozco was born in The Bronx, New York, and is the son of Puerto Rican parents. While growing up, his mother drove him 30 miles from his home in the Bronx to his gym, World Cup Gymnastics, in Chappaqua, New York for practice.[3] At the age of 8 years old John was enrolled into free gymnastics lessons at a gym in Manhattan called Sutton Gymnastics. The gym allowed him to be part of a program for socioeconomically disadvantaged children. He trained at World Cup Gymnastics in Chappaqua while finishing his high school education at Felisa Rincon de Gautier Institute in Soundview.[4]

Gymnastics career

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Junior

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In 2007, he won the Junior Visa U.S. National Championships and became the youngest male gymnast to qualify for the finals. He then became an alternate on the Junior National Team and represented the USA in the Pan-American Games. He won three consecutive Junior Visa U.S. National Championships in a row (2007, 2008, and 2009).

He then competed at the Pacific Rim Championships in 2008 and 2010, helping the team to gold medals. At the 2010 Pacific Rim Championships in Melbourne, he also won gold medals in the All-Around and Horizontal Bar and silver medals in Pommel Horse, Still Rings, and Parallel Bars.

Senior

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In 2010, John Orozco competed in the US National Visa Championships as a Senior for the first time at 17 years old. Unfortunately, he couldn't finish the competition due to an Achilles tendon rupture in his right leg while competing on Vault during preliminaries.[5] After surgery and rehab, he was able to return to training.

2011

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After graduating from high school, John decided to defer any college plans to concentrate on training for the 2012 Summer Olympics, leaving New York to train at the United States Olympic Training Center (U.S.O.T.C.) in Colorado Springs.[6]

John made the Senior National team in 2011 where he performed well at the U.S. National Visa Championships in St Paul, Minnesota. He ranked 2nd on Parallel Bars, 3rd in All-Around, Pommel Horse and Horizontal Bar, and 4th on Still Rings.

He was chosen to be part of the U.S.A. team traveling to the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, where his consistent performances helped the team to a Bronze medal. He competed in the All-Around final where he finished 5th, and the Horizontal Bar final where he made a costly error, finishing in 8th place.

After the world championships, it was announced that John Orozco had decided to turn 'pro', forfeiting future NCAA eligibility.[7]

2012

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In the first big meet of American men's gymnastics, Orozco took part in the Winter Cup in Las Vegas. In previous years, he had been unable to perform to the best of his ability due to illness or injury at this competition. He ended up finishing the competition in first place, more than 5 full points ahead of 2nd-place finisher Steven Legendre.[8][9]

He performed in the All-Around at the AT&T American Cup competition at Madison Square Garden, New York City, in March 2012.[10]

At the Visa Championships in St. Louis, Missouri in June 2012, Orozco edged out 2011 All Around Champion Danell Leyva by a slight margin to win the All-Around Gold medal and clinch the national championship.

In July 2012, John Orozco competed in the 2012 London Summer Olympics for the United States. He competed in the Men's artistic team all-around and the Men's artistic individual all-around, placing fifth and eighth respectively. In both events he erred on the pommel horse, even though going into the Olympics it was his strongest event.[11] In conjunction with his participation in the 2012 Summer Olympics, Orozco appeared in First: The Official Film of the London 2012 Olympic Games, appearing as the first athlete profiled, giving his backstory and reviewing his actions in competition.[12] In October, Orozco suffered tears to both the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee while performing on the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions. He underwent surgery to repair the ligaments, went through rehabilitation, and returned to competition.[13]

2013

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After sustaining an injury to his left knee during the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Superstars in late 2012,[14] Orozco was out of competition for much of 2013. His first competition since the Olympics was the 2013 US Nationals, where he competed in a leg brace and finished in fourth place; he was named as an alternate to the World Championships team but was added to the team officially after Danell Leyva withdrew due to injury.[15]

At the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, Orozco performed on the pommel horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bar in the qualification rounds. He qualified in 7th place on the parallel bars and earned a bronze medal in the event final.[16]

In December, Orozco competed at the FIG World Cup event in Glasgow, Scotland. He placed 4th after a fall on the horizontal bar.[17]

2014

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In February, Orozco competed at the 2014 Winter Cup, and won gold on the horizontal bar. In August, he competed at the 2014 P&G U.S. Championships in Pittsburgh. He placed first in the horizontal bar competition and second in all-around. In October, he is scheduled to participate in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Nanjing, China, as a member of the U.S. national team.[18] Orozco re-tore an Achilles tendon in June 2015 and expected to be recovering until 2016.[19]

Switch to Puerto Rican team

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In 2020, he changed his affiliation for international competitions from the United States to Puerto Rico where his parents had lived before moving to the Bronx.[20]

Personal life

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He was featured in the Gym Class Heroes music video for "The Fighter" that featured the vocals of Ryan Tedder. The music video opens with Orozco saying: "I'm John Orozco, I'm an Olympic gymnast, I'm from Bronx, NY... and I'm a fighter".[21] The video shows him competing, suffering an ankle injury and training to get back in shape for a comeback. It also uses footage of Orozco's childhood training and of his parents and trainers encouraging him throughout the way.

Orozco also appeared in three episodes of the TV show Law & Order as a background actor.

References

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  1. ^ "Orozco injures knee during Olympic training camp, withdraws from Olympic Team". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  2. ^ "John Orozco biography". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  3. ^ "From the Bronx to Gymnastics Big Stage". TeamUSA. Archived from the original on 2011-11-03.
  4. ^ "Teen Gymnast Prodigy Preps For World Stage". New York Daily News. 7 Nov 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  5. ^ "John Orozco Vault & Update 2010 Visa Championships". usagymnasticsorg on YouTube. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  6. ^ Tanyanika Samuels (17 February 2011). "Soundview Gymnast John Orozco in training for 2012 Olympics". NY Daily News. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  7. ^ "John Orozco Goes Pro". Inside Gymnastics magazine. 14 December 2011. Archived from the original on 6 May 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  8. ^ "Orozco Shines in First Key Gymnastics Tune Up On Road to London Olympics". Washington Post. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.[dead link]
  9. ^ Amanda Turner (4 February 2012). "Orozco wins Winter Cup". International Gymnast magazine. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  10. ^ "2011 World all-around champ Wieber, 2011 World all-around finalists Raisman and Orozco will compete in 2012 AT&T American Cup". USA Gymnastics website. 19 Dec 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  11. ^ John Branch (2 March 2012). "Out of the Bronx, a Gymnast Sets Sights on Gold". New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  12. ^ "First: The Official Film of the London 2012 Olympic Games". iMDb. 30 May 2013. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  13. ^ Amanda Turner (11 July 2013). "Orozco On His Way Back After Knee Injury". INTERNATIONAL GYMNAST MAGAZINE. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  14. ^ "Gymnastics | Videos, News & Articles - FloGymnastics".
  15. ^ "John Orozco added to U.S. Gymnastics team for World Championships". 21 August 2013.
  16. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-28. Retrieved 2013-12-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ^ "Price wins silver medal at World Cup in Glasgow".
  18. ^ "USA Gymnastics | John Orozco".
  19. ^ "Sam Mikulak three-peats at P&G Championships on fall-filled day". 17 August 2015.
  20. ^ "John Orozco, U.S. Olympic gymnast, switches to Puerto Rico". OlympicTalk | NBC Sports. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  21. ^ Music video for Gym Class Heroes' song "The Fighter" showing John Orozco
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