Olympian Orozco Returns to Home Gym to Help Youngsters
For any young gymnast at Chappaqua’s World Cup Gymnastics who holds lofty aspirations, meeting John Orozco ought to be a source of great motivation.
Orozco, who finished eighth in the 2012 London Olympics, trained for a decade at the Hunts Lane facility starting when he was eight years old. Last Sunday, he returned to his home gym to participate in separate clinics for the school’s boys’ and girls’ gymnastics teams, talking to the young athletes, signing autographs and providing tidbits of advice.
“I think it’s a way of giving back,” Orozco said during a break between the boys’ and girls’ sessions. “I just want to show by example, being an inspiration, it can happen anywhere and it can come from anywhere. I want to show them that it doesn’t matter where you came from, all that matters is where you’re going.”
Orozco, who will turn 22 on Dec. 30, headed to London in the summer of 2012 not only as a local celebrity, but his story intrigued millions far and wide. Born and raised in the Bronx, his father got him started with gymnastics in the city. At a young age, Orozco’s talent was apparent and his parents would soon be driving him regularly to World Cup Gymnastics to train.
While it’s difficult to predict whether a youngster will develop into a world class talent, Jason Hebert, World Cup’s director and team coach, said he recognized that Orozco was special as soon as he arrived.
Now Hebert and the other coaches are able to point to Orozco as someone who combined talent with a desire to work hard to reach the highest echelon of his sport.
“At such a young age doing such powerful tumbling, we knew that it was a really, really special situation that we had here,” Hebert said. “I told a lot of our guys here, I see a little bit of that in a lot of you, so just don’t let anything stop you from reaching your dreams.”
World Cup owner John Sabalja said while most competitors are not going to be Olympians–only five American male gymnasts qualify for the Olympic team every four years–the school has had many of its students move on and compete in regional and state championships and in college.
Sabalja said what makes Orozco, who now lives in Colorado Springs near the U.S. Olympic Training Center, special is his willingness to return to his home gym to train when he’s back in New York.
“It’s incredible to see him here and be in touch with everybody,” Sabalja said. “That’s why the kids love seeing him, the parents love seeing him.”
Orozco said he is looking forward to trying to qualify for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. He said his own nerves, the atmosphere and the hordes of media in London were exhilarating and an experience he’ll always cherish, but also distracting. Early in the competition, Orozco fell off the pommel horse, thought to be his strength, and was in 24th place. Being able to improve to eighth was an achievement.
“I learned a lot from it,” said Orozco, who placed first in the high bar competition and was second in all-around at the P&G U.S. Championships in Pittsburgh earlier this year. “I learned about the pressure and how it’s going to be when it gets to that point.”
He also credited World Cup Gymnastics for helping him get to where he is today, not only because of the coaching he received but by being accepted by a different group of kids.
“It was a lot of fun being around other kids my age and doing the same things,” Orozco said. “The thing about it for me was the difference in culture because I came from the Bronx, and growing up there and coming to Westchester it was so different than what I was used to and I liked it a lot.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
