Jonathan Horton

Jonathan Alan Horton (born December 31, 1985) is a former American artistic gymnast.

Horton began gymnastics at the age of four in 1990.

"I was a wild child", Horton said, "I once climbed a pole in the middle of Target all the way to the ceiling. I used to do back flips on my parents' bed and I rode a garage door to the top when I was 3 years old."

Horton made his debut as a senior (despite still competing as a junior) in 2002 competing at the U.S. National Championships in Cleveland, Ohio where he placed first on rings and vault, placed second in the all-around and the floor exercise, and tied for fifth on the high bar.

In 2003, he competed in the Winter Cup challenge, where he qualified to the individual event finals.

Later that year he was chosen to compete for US at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo where the men's team won bronze and he placed fourth all-around.

Horton competed in both the U.S. Nationals and Olympic Team trials in 2004, where he placed 13th.

That same year, he entered the University of Oklahoma.

He was recruited by Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Penn State, and committed to compete for the University of Oklahoma beginning in 2004 for the 2004–05 NCAA season.

From 2005–08, Horton competed for the Oklahoma Sooners gymnastics team alongside his 2010 & 2011 world teammates Chris Brooks and Steven Legendre.

During his time competing for Oklahoma, he won 6 NCAA titles and 18 All-American honors, breaking the record that was previously set by Bart Conner.

His OU record for titles and honors still stands.

In 2005, Horton once again competed at the Winter Cup, placing eighth all-around and was selected again for the U.S. National Team.

At the beginning of 2006, during Horton's second year at OU, he won an all-around silver at the Winter Cup.

He went on to compete at the American Cup where he won the all-around and rings competitions.

That summer, he competed in the U.S. National Championships where he won gold on the floor, silver in the all-around and bronze on the horizontal bar.

His performances led to him being chosen to represent the U.S.A. at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus.

In 2007, Horton competed at the Winter Cup and the American Cup again.

He won his second consecutive American Cup All-Around title, the first male gymnast to do so since Blaine Wilson.

After competing in the NCAA and U.S. National Championships he was once again chosen for the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, where he finished fourth in the all-around and helped the U.S.A. qualify a full men's team to the 2008 Summer Olympics.

He is the 2008 Olympic silver medalist on high bar, the 2010 World all-around bronze medalist, a two-time Olympian, a two-time U.S. National All-Around Champion, and a 17-time medalist at the U.S. National Championships.

At the 2008 Olympics, he also won a bronze medal with his U.S. teammates in the team competition.

In 2008, Horton competed in Winter Cup, the American Cup as well as competing as a Senior for Oklahoma.

That year the Sooners won the NCAA Championships, and Horton won another NCAA individual title on the rings.

At the U.S. National Championships in Houston, Horton won silver medals on the floor, rings and all-around.

This qualified him to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Horton was named to the U.S. Olympic team following the 2008 Olympic Trials, where he was the all-around champion.

The team entered the 2008 Beijing Olympics amongst much skepticism as to whether the team could compete against such established teams as the Japanese, Chinese, and German teams.

Injuries had forced team leaders Paul Hamm and Morgan Hamm to withdraw from competition, causing the American team to bring in alternates Raj Bhavsar and Alexander Artemev.

The American men performed better than anticipated, with Horton being the team's top performer.

The American team ended the competition with the bronze medal after a stressful pommel horse event.

In the event finals, Horton placed ninth all-around and added a silver medal in the high bar event.

In 2009, Horton became the U.S. National Champion, and went on to compete in the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in London where he reached the finals in the all-around and on the horizontal bar.

In 2010, Horton competed in the American Cup where he placed second all-around.

That summer he defended his national all-around title at the U.S. National Championships in Hartford.

He was selected for the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, where the U.S. team placed fourth, and Horton won the all-around bronze medal.

In 2011, Horton won his third American Cup all-around title, and was captain of the U.S. team that won the bronze medal at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

He also competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where he qualified for the high bar event final and finished in sixth place.

A very young and inexperienced worlds team, they finished 13th in the qualifying rounds not making the team finals.

In 2016, he had surgery on his left rotator cuff and as a result was unable to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.