Most May graduates spent the summer polishing resumés or working internships, but gymnast Jonathan Horton had a different plan — giving the performance of his life at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

The 22-year-old Houston native led the U.S. team to bronze Aug. 12, and added an individual silver medal in the high bar final Tuesday.

“It’s been surreal,” Horton said. “I’ve used this term so many times, but it’s the only way I can explain it.”

Horton’s NCAA eligibility ended in April, when he led the Sooners to a record eighth national title — their third in Horton’s four years. In June, he won the U.S. Olympic Trials in Philadelphia, and had been expected to back up reigning Olympic champion Paul Hamm in the U.S. lineup in Beijing.

However, when Hamm withdrew with an injury on July 28, two days before the team left for China, Horton stepped in as the team’s top all-arounder.

Then Hamm’s twin brother, Morgan Hamm, withdrew with a sprained ankle Aug. 7. The team was left with no returning Olympians, and, it seemed, no hope for a medal.

With nothing to lose, the Americans gave an inspired performance in the final to win an upset bronze behind China and Japan. Horton competed in five of six events in the team final, and the triple-twisting double layout he stuck on his high bar dismount was one of the highlights of the night.

After a ninth-place finish in the all-around final, Horton had a five-day wait to prepare for the high bar final. The 5-1, 122-pound dynamo has long been known for his spectacular tricks on high bar, but it seemed he missed them as often as he made them in pressure situations.

In the final, Horton went for broke, adding two more skills — layout double back over the bar, and a full-twisting layout double back over the bar — to increase his difficulty score from 6.4 to 6.9. He nailed the routine except for a hop on his triple-double dismount, the most difficult one in Beijing.

Horton received the highest execution score of the final, but was edged for the gold by .025 by China’s Zou Kai. Zou had sloppy execution but his difficulty score of 7.2 gave him the edge over other finalists.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever done that routine,” Horton said. “I’m not going to sit here and say it’s luck because I’ve done every one wof those skills millions of times. But it was maybe a little bit of luck to put it together in the same routine at once and do it as well as I did. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, right?”

Next up for Horton is the 30-city “Tour of Gymnastics Superstars,” and then a wedding to his longtime girlfriend, senior gymnast Haley DeProspero.

Farther down the road, Horton, who earned 18 All-America honors and six individual national titles for the Sooners, plans to compete in the 2012 Games in London.

“This Olympic Games has been an amazing experience,” he said. “You know, I didn’t mess up once. The team did well and backed me up. Walking away with two medals is just so amazing. I’m very motivated to go back home and work hard so next Olympics I can walk away with the gold.”