Jonathan Horton: Fighting back
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Hide captionUniversal Sports: What is it like to make a mistake on the first event and know you still have five more to go? Jon Horton: “That is one of the hardest things to do as a gymnast. From the time you’re a little kid all you want to do is be perfect, you want to win.”
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Hide caption"When you go up to your first event and you’re feeling pretty pumped up, and the adrenaline is going, and all of a sudden you fall twice. It’s like, ‘Wow. I have got five more events to go. Why am I even here?”
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Hide caption"But that is what you learn from time and experience. Last year at world championships I fell twice on my floor routine and it was a disaster."
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Hide caption"Going into that competition I knew I could be number one or number two in the all-around."
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Hide caption"After floor was over I told myself, 'I am here. I am not going to waste this day. Somehow I am going to pull myself together and I’m going to come back and I’m still going to accomplish my goal.'"
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Hide caption"I kept telling myself, 'I do this for fun. I do gymnastics because I love it and I’m not just going to sit here and put on a pouty face and make myself look ridiculous right now.'"
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Hide caption"I’m going to go out there – I’m going to fight."
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Hide caption"Well, went to the next event and fell on pommel horse, basically twice..."
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Hide caption“It was a complete disaster. At that moment in time I thought, ‘You know what, I’ve got nothing to lose. Chances are, I’m not going to be in the top two like I wanted to, so now I’m just going to put on a show...'”
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Hide caption"...I’m going to have fun. I’m going to get the crowd into my gymnastics and just show them that I’m a competitor and that I don’t quit..."
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Hide caption"That’s just something I’ve had to learn over time - that it’s gymnastics, it’s not the end of the world."
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Hide caption"If it doesn’t go your way, well there’s always another day. There’s always another competition. You just have to enjoy it regardless of the outcome."
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