Sooner Profile: Jonathan Horton

Jonathan Horton \| Sr. \| All-Around \| 5-1
	Birthdate: December 31, 1985 Parents: Margo and Robert Horton Hometown: Houston, Texas High School: Cy-Fair Club: Cypress Academy Multimedia View Interview \| Photo Gallery \| Bio

NORMAN, Okla. -- For being a world class athlete, Jonathan Horton is about as humble and down to earth as they come.

He holds the OU career records for individual national titles (5) and All-America honors (15), but when asked to reflect on his college career, the subject centers around his teammates and what they have accomplished together: two national titles, countless All-America honors and, above all, a brotherhood that will last forever.

Bigger things are in store for Horton's future. He has his sights set on making the Olympic Team that will compete in Beijing this summer and ultimately plans to open his own gymnastics facility and teach kids the sport he loves.

All of that, however, is on the backburner until this season is complete, a season in which Horton plans to finish on top... yet again.

On his college career coming to a close:
"It's gone by unbelievably fast. It's almost hard to believe that I'm a senior in college already. I've competed for three awesome years with this team. When I was a senior in high school I remember everyone saying, 'Enjoy your college years because they're going to go by really fast.' I didn't really believe it because I just saw four years of more school.

"It's gone by so quick and I've loved every moment of it. I'm so pumped about this last year and am going to try to do something great for the team and go out on top."

"The guys on this team

and everyone I'm

around every day, it's

my family and these

are my brothers."

On being the most decorated NCAA gymnast in OU history:
"It means a lot but the most important thing to me is definitely how the team competes and the team aspect of being a collegiate gymnast. The individual part is really cool. It boosts my confidence and makes me feel like a great competitor, but what the team does and how I walk away from this experience knowing that I've had this many national championships with the team, that's what's really important to me."

On being back to full-strength for the final stretch of the season:
"I'd say I'm about 80 percent of where I want to be physically and mentally right now. After the World Championships I definitely took some time off and tried to relax a little bit. I'm getting back into it and am on my up the hill right now. I've got a lot of work to do and the team has a lot of work to do, but this team is really talented. I feel like this is the best team I've been on since I've been here. Not only am I getting close to where I want to be, everyone else is as well and I'm just really pumped about the end of the season."

On the differences between college and international gymnastics:
"There are a lot of things I definitely like and dislike about both. International competition is like the extreme of what I want to do with this sport. Going to a World Championships, going to an Olympic Games, that's 'dream come true' kind of stuff. Then again, international gymnastics is so political sometimes. It's very subjective in the way it's judged and everything.

"In college, it's much more simple. You're with your teammates and you're cheering each other on. It's just a blast to compete with these guys. I don't think I favor one over the other. They're both great times of my life and great ways to compete, but right now I'm more focused on the collegiate aspect of what I'm doing and just loving every moment of it."

On when making it to the Olympics became a realistic goal:
"When I was about 14 or 15 years old I realized I was almost good enough to be a world class gymnast. I made my first Junior National Team when I was 14. Since then I've just kept getting better and better. I'm on the Senior National Team now and have been on two World Championship Teams. The first time I made a World Championships, that's when I realized that in four more years I could be on the Olympic Team, that's the next step.

"I can't even begin to explain or describe the feelings and emotions I have towards the Olympic Games. It's just an awesome thing coming up. There is a lot of pressure with the Olympics, but I'm up for it and am looking forward to it."

On when the training process starts for the Olympic Games:
"That's something I'm definitely deep in the middle of the process. Training for the Olympics is something you have to start doing at the previous Olympics. In 2004, I was watching it on TV saying, 'I want to make the next Olympics. It's time to start training for that and get amped up.' I've been training really hard the past four years. Being here at OU is one of the things that has really helped me excel, training with these guys and these awesome coaches. Six more months and hopefully that dream will come true."

On what he is going to miss most about the college experience:
"Definitely the family that I have here. The guys on this team and everyone I'm around every day, it's my family and these are my brothers. When I'm not here competing and training with these guys every single day, it'll be tough. I'll be looking back on every moment I had with these guys and just remember how great it was."

On his most memorable moment here at Oklahoma:
"The most special moment that I've had here at OU was probably my freshman and sophomore year. So far I've been a part of two teams that won a national championship. My freshman year, we won and just barely inched out the second place team. The moment we realized we had won, the way the team reacted and how everybody was with each other is something I'll never forget. We've watched the video from TV so many times, our reaction going crazy.

"It was the same thing my sophomore year. We won by a little more, but the excitement and the feeling you have of all the hard work paying off and going through so much to get to this point and we're national champions, those are the special moments I'll never forget being here at OU with these guys and this team."

On his plans beyond his competition career:
"Gymnastics is my life. I've been doing it since I was four years old and I want to stay involved with this sport my whole life. My plan was to go to OU, get into business school and get a degree in management, which is what I'm doing. After I'm done here I plan on opening my own gymnastics facility, coaching and teaching kids what I enjoy and what I've been doing for the past 18 years."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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