LONDON — John Orozco performed like a savvy veteran in his Olympic debut Saturday, moving through his routines with composure and poise on the first day of the men’s team gymnastics competition.
A resident at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs who grew up in the Bronx, Orozco is young for a male gymnast at 19.
But he stands fourth in the all-around standings after the qualifying rounds, and the U.S men are in first place in the team standings.
Teammate Danell Leyva is in first place. The men’s team final will be held Monday.
Japan’s Kohei Uchimura, who has not lost since the Beijing Olympics in 2008, shocked gymnastics fans with a shaky performance that left him ninth. But Orozco looked calm and cool on the biggest day of his career.
“Definitely not how I felt, but that’s how I wanted to try to feel,” Orozco said. “I tried to think of it as just another big meet and just do my routines, just get it over with — especially since it’s the first day.”
He may have felt pressure, but it didn’t show. He made mistakes, but all were minor.
“That’s John Orozco. He’s very poised and he handles the pressure just extremely well for such a young athlete,” said U.S. men’s coach Kevin Mazeika.
“He just goes out there and he does his gymnastics. He’s very focused, very poised, and handled the pressure of the Olympic Games extremely well.”
Pressure is always a huge part of gymnastics. Who stands up to it? Who wilts? Uchimura’s performance was baffling.
“That was so weird,” Orozco said. “I thought that was really uncharacteristic of him. You know what? It’s only the first day. It’s going to be an exciting team finals. He’s definitely going to come back with a lot.”
Orozco said he dealt with the pressure by refusing to think about it.
“I’ve always been like that,” Orozco said. “I kind of trained myself to do that. Like with any big competition, I just think, ‘You know what? I’ve done all I can already by preparing in the gym all these years, all these practices, hours, so I can’t be freaking out now. This is the point where I have to do it.’ “
Now he and Leyva, who is from Miami, have helped put the U.S. in position to win its first gold medal in the team competition since 1984, and both are contenders for men’s all-around medals.
“The team in general, we did great. I think we did awesome, especially for it being our first Olympic Games,” Orozco said.
“First day, and all the nerves are everywhere in the air. Considering that, I think we did really good as a team.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616, jmeyer@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jmeyer26
