Leyanet González

Leyanet Gonzalez
— Gymnast —
Full name	Leyanet Gonzalez Calero
Country represented	Cuba
Born	September 30, 1978 Cuba
Residence	Cancun, México
Discipline	all-around gymnast
Level	Senior Elite
Retired	yes
Medal record Representing Cuba Pan American Games 1991 Havana Balance Beam 2003 Santo Domingo Vault 1991 Havana Team 1995 Buenos Aires Team 1995 Buenos Aires Balance Beam 1995 Buenos Aires Floor Summer Universiade 1997 Sicily Balance Beam 1997 Sicily Floor

Leyanet Gonzalez (born 30 September 1978) is a Cuban gymnast. An Olympian who finished 22nd in the 2004 Olympics all-around, she is exceptionally unusual in gymnastics. Not only has she enjoyed a long career, but she remained in high level competition after having given birth. Most female elite gymnasts are in their late teens and early 20s, and seldom in recent years have many been parents. In the 1950s and 1960s it was not unknown, the great Soviet Larisa Latynina having given birth during her competitive career, and won numerous Olympic and world titles.

In recent times, Gonzalez's combination of Olympic level gymnastics and motherhood makes her highly unusual. Oksana Chusovitina has done the same and has won more medals, but unlike Gonzalez she does not always compete on every piece of apparatus: Leyanet is a solid all-arounder. Older gymnasts are more likely to specialize because training all four pieces is harder (e.g. her former teammate Annia Hatch in the 2004 Olympics). Leyanet finished 22nd in the all-around final at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, her first Olympics.

She has one eponymous skill, an uneven bars mount. It involves a round-off back handspring onto the low bar through a handstand position. In the 2013-2016 Code of Points it is a D skill.

Leyanet has now retired, and currently living in Cancun, México

External links

• Leyanet Gonzalez at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique