Leanne Wong: "At the end of every college season, I'm like, 'I want to go back to elite.'"
In 2021, U.S. gymnast Leanne Wong’s Olympic dream quickly became one she wished she could wake up from.
The Team USA alternate ended up quarantined in her hotel room when training-mate and fellow alternate Kara Eaker tested positive for COVID-19.
That difficult experience sharpened Wong’s resolve for a chance at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
“After the last Olympics and getting quarantined and then just being stuck in my hotel room, I think that really gave me time to think about what I wanted to do after that,” Wong told Olympics.com ahead of last month’s NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships. “That’s why I decided to go back to elite gymnastics after that and go to my first worlds.”
Wong came home from those World Championships in Kitakushu, Japan, as the all-around silver medallist and floor exercise bronze medal winner.
It’s been a whirlwind ever since.
“I returned from Japan with my two World medals, went straight to campus and I was just super excited to start my college season,” said Wong, who in addition to her duties as part of the U.S. national team recently wrapped up her junior season with the University of Florida women’s gymnastics squad.
In her first three seasons with Florida, the squad has finished second twice in 2022 and 2023 and most recently fourth.
Wong has also been an integral part of the U.S. squad at each of the last two World Championships. She’s helped Team USA to historic sixth and seventh-consecutive wins at the global event in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Despite the difficult balancing act, Wong has no regrets.
“At the end of every college season, I’m like, ‘I want to go back to elite,’” she explained. “I think choosing Florida had a lot to do with keeping that option open and I just feel like I pushed for my coaches to allow me to balance [different] goals.”
Wong on juggling elite and college gymnastics: "A lot of times, it's both in one day."
In 2024, that balance takes a different form with July’s Olympic Games in Paris pushing up a schedule that typically culminates with the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in late September or early October.
That’s not fazing Wong - after all it is still a push-pull she's navigated smoothly the past two years.
“Before season, I was balancing elite and college gymnastics, and doing a lot more elite in the beginning,” explained Wong of the condensed schedule. “I did pretty well to do both because I think it is kind of hard to switch back and forth. A lot of times, it’s both in one day.”
The 20-year-old is studying to be a doctor one day. She also runs a successful gymnastics bow company… in what little spare time she might have remaining.
The upcoming U.S. Classic, 18 May in Hartford, Connecticut, will be Wong’s first elite competition since last year’s World Championships, but the Lenexa, Kansas-native says an increased focus on her elite skills and routines will pay off in the fast four week turn-around from NCAAs.
Part of the secret to Wong’s success has been designing collegiate routines that can easily build into her elite routines.
“My college bar routine is half of my elite routine,” she said. “It’s like the baseline, and you’re building the basics for your elite routines. I really find both to be really beneficial.”
Wong has had the opportunity to experiment and find what works best for her.
“I’ve definitely done it differently each year,” admitted Wong. “The first year, I went home and, then, the second summer that I decided to go back to elite after the collegiate season, I had to do an in-person class on campus, so I had no choice but to stay on campus. I guess it was a good tryout for how I wanted to do things this year.”
With the Paris Games closing in, Wong says she’ll remain on campus again, once again taking several in person classes.
But with all her experience, she’s feeling more than capable of navigating all with Olympic dreams on the line.
“I definitely feel like I’m a lot more ahead than I was last year,” Wong said. “I kind of had to start everything earlier, but I think I’m in a good spot right now.”
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