Many observers of the 2012 Olympics have become familiar with American gymnast Danell Leyva and his Linus van Pelt-esque obsession with a lucky towel. Well now he has revealed the reason why it is so special to him.

According to Joe Lago of Yahoo! Sports, Leyva revealed the origin of his towel:

"One aunt went to 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."

Leyva also revealed that he washes the towel every three days or so, but it goes everywhere with him.

The 20-year-old Cuban-born gymnast earned a bronze medal in the men's all-around on Wednesday, taking his profile even higher. The towel is probably going to become even more popular. It already has its own Twitter account with more than 7,000 followers.

Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

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