The secret behind Danell Leyva's lucky towel
LONDON – Danell Leyva gets lots of attention for his gymnastics skills and his stepfather's cheerleading antics.
His lucky towel gets its share of the spotlight, too. That's right, his lucky towel. It even has its own Twitter account (@LeyvasTowel), which just reached a thousand followers.
[Photos: Men's all-around gymnastics]
So where did the towel come from? And how did it become a good luck charm?
Leyva provided the answers to such pressing questions Wednesday night after winning the bronze medal in the Olympic men's all around at North Greenwich Arena.
Here's the story straight from Leyva:
"One aunt went to go buy a towel, and the other one went to her house to get a towel for me because I wanted something to wipe my sweat off. And they both came back with the exact same towel. I said, 'OK, this is a coincidence. I'm going to keep these two as my lucky towels.'
"One of them ripped a couple of months later, so I just had the one. I've had it since 2007. It hasn't left my side since."
[Related: U.S. women's first gold medal in gymnastics since 1996]
Is the towel ever clean?
"I do wash it. It's not all sweaty and nasty," he replied. "I do wash it like every three days or so."
There, now you can sleep at night.
More London Olympics coverage on Yahoo! Sports Canada:
• Brent Hayden claims bronze in 100-metre freestyle
• Was 'luck loonie' key to Canada's rowing silver medal?
• South Korean fencer turns down special medal
