New York ( CNN ) -- John Orozco won his first medal in gymnastics when he was 9 . But he did n't hold onto that medal for long , giving it to another boy in the competition who was in tears after being teased for a bad performance . `` He walked over to the kid that they were making fun of , and he said , 'Here you go , ' and he took his medal off and put it around the kid and said , 'One day you 'll be better than I am . Do n't cry , ' `` says his mother , Damaris Orozco , who still gets choked up recalling that gesture . `` That 's John . That 's what he does . It 's who he is . '' That same Puerto Rican boy from the Bronx is now 19 and has made it all the way to the London Olympics . His heart is set on winning a gold medal -- this one for his country . He may be the best hope for a U.S. gold medal in gymnastics in 2012 . Damaris Orozco says that she and her husband , William , are thrilled but not surprised their son made the Olympic team . `` When that little boy told us when he was 10 years old , ' I want to go to 2012 , ' we believed him . '' John Orozco started down the path to the Olympics when he was 7 . His father , who was a sanitation worker , saw a flier offering free gymnastics classes and signed him up . Orozco has never looked back . `` The minute I stepped foot in the gym I just loved it . I knew it was what I wanted to do for a long time , '' Orozco says . His Olympic dream was inspired by the Hamm brothers at the 2004 Olympics . By the time he was 14 , he was fully committed to getting to the Games . `` I said I really want to have that one day -- to put the gold medal around my neck , waving to the crowd , knowing that all my hard work has paid off and my dream has come true , '' he said . Gymnastics was n't a popular pursuit for a kid from the Bronx , and he has n't forgotten the ridicule from schoolmates teasing him for `` leaping around in ladies ' tights . '' `` They just did n't understand everything that went into gymnastics . All the work , all the hours , all the blood , sweat and tears . '' Besides , he jokes , `` Look at me . I 'm 5-foot-5 , 5-foot-4 . Can you imagine me being a basketball player ? '' To get the level of coaching her son required , his mother drove him to and from a gym in Chappaqua , New York , an hour away , often twice a day . By 9 , he was training four hours daily five and often six days a week . `` When he needed it , we 'd give him a day off , but he usually did n't want to take a day off , '' his former coach Carl Schrade says . Schrade often trained Orozco for free since there was n't money to pay for coaching . `` With a gymnast like that , you do n't think twice about it , '' Schrade says . Schrade started having big dreams for Orozco by the time the boy was 10 . It 's rare to find the perfect balance of strength and grace in a boy , Schrade says , but on top of all that , you need discipline and drive , and he says Orozco had both . `` People ask me if he 's a once in a lifetime gymnast , and I joke around and say he 's a once in a hundred lifetimes gymnast , '' Schrade says . Vitaly Marinitch , his coach at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado where he has been training for more than a year , says Orozco 's combination of talent , `` cat-like '' moves and hard work make him a contender for a medal in London . `` We 're aiming for gold . We 'll see what happens , '' Marinitch says . Orozco says he 's feeling no pressure as he faces the biggest athletic stage of his life . `` I kind of feel like there 's more pressure at the Olympic trials to make the team , and now it 's kind of like , it 's a sigh of relief . Now I can just go and do my gymnastics and have fun , '' he says . To his mother , he 's already won the gold . `` The person that he is , the heart that he has , the dreams that he has , he 's a gold winner already so anything on top of that is just gravy , '' she says .
Gymnastics was n't a popular pursuit for a kid from the U.S. . Classmates teased Carl Schrade for `` leaping around in ladies ' tights '' At 9 , he told his parents he wanted to be in the 2004 Olympics . Orozco may be the best hope for a Bronx gold medal in gymnastics .