Leanne Wong

Leanne Ashley Wong (born September 20, 2003)[3] is an American artistic gymnast and a member of the United States' women's national gymnastics team. She was the 2018 national Junior all-around champion,[4] and was a member of the team that won gold at the 2019 Pan American Games.

Leanne Wong
Full nameLeanne Ashley Wong
Country represented United States
Born (2003-09-20) September 20, 2003[1]
ResidenceOverland Park, Kansas, United States
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior International Elite
Years on national team2017 – Present (US)
GymGreat American Gymnastics Express[2]
Head coach(es)Al Fong & Armine Barutyan
Medal record
Representing the  United States
Pan American Games
2019 Lima Team
2019 Lima Uneven Bars
FIG World Cup
2019 Greensboro All Around

Personal life

Wong has two younger brothers. Her parents, Marco Wong and Bee Ding, are both research scientists. She enjoys sightseeing, cooking and playing piano in her free time. Before Wong started gymnastics, she took ice skating classes.[5]

Career

Junior

2017

Wong qualified as an elite gymnast at the Parkettes National Qualifier in May alongside club teammate Kara Eaker, where she scored a 51.900 in the all-around to qualify to nationals.[6] She later competed at the American Classic in Texas, winning gold medals in the all-around and on vault.[7] At the end of July, Wong competed at the Secret U.S. Classic, where she placed ninth in the all-around and sixth on vault.[8]

Wong competed at her first national championships in August. Wong continued to impress on vault with a two-night score of 29.45, winning the national title on the apparatus ahead of Maile O'Keefe and Emma Malabuyo. Wong also placed third on floor exercise as well as fifth in the all-around behind O'keefe, Malabuyo, Eaker, and Adeline Kenlin with a combined total of 108.250 points. After the championships, she was named to the junior national team.[9]

2018

With O'keefe, Malabuyo, Eaker, and Kenlin all moving to the senior level, Wong entered the season as one of the top American junior competitors. On April 8, Wong was named to the Junior Pan American Championships team. In advance of this competition, she competed at the Auburn National Qualifier, where she won the all-around with upgraded routines on the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.[10]

Wong traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina in June to make her international debut at the Junior Pan American Championships. Competing on a team alongside Jordan Bowers, Tori Tatum, and JaFree Scott, Wong won a gold medal in the team competition. Individually, she won the bronze medal in the all-around behind Bowers and Zoe Allaire-Bourgie of Canada. Two days later, Wong competed in the event finals on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam, placing second on each apparatus behind Tatum, Bowers, and Allaire-Bourgie, respectively.

Wong competed at the GK U.S. Classic at the end of July. She won the all-around by over a point ahead of American Classic champion Kayla DiCello and Junior Pan American champion Bowers with a score of 55.350.[11] She also placed first on vault and floor exercise and third on balance beam. Three weeks later, Wong competed at the 2018 National Championships. With her victory at the Classic, she entered the meet as one of the contenders for the title along with fellow national team members Bowers, DiCello, Tatum, and Sunisa Lee.[12] After two days of competition in which Wong hit all eight of her competitive routines, she became the 2018 Junior all-around champion ahead of DiCello and Lee. Her two-day combined total of 112.250 would have placed her 4th in the senior division. Additionally, she won the national title on floor exercise, was the runner-up on vault behind DiCello and on uneven bars behind Lee, and placed sixth on balance beam. Her performance secured her spot on the junior national team for the second consecutive year.

Senior

2019

In January, it was announced that Wong would make her senior debut and represent the USA at the American Cup alongside second year senior Grace McCallum in March.[13] On March 2, Wong won the American Cup title with a score of 56.765, beating McCallum in second and the two previous World all-around silver medalists, Canada's Ellie Black (2017) and Japan's Mai Murakami (2018), who tied for third place.[14] She debuted numerous upgrades, most notably a piked double Arabian (Dos Santos I) to immediate stag jump as her first tumbling pass on floor exercise. She posted the highest scores of the competition on vault and balance beam.

In June, after the conclusion of the American Classic, Wong was named as one of the eight athletes being considered for the team to compete at the 2019 Pan American Games along with Sloane Blakely, Kara Eaker, Aleah Finnegan, Morgan Hurd, Shilese Jones, Sunisa Lee, and Riley McCusker.[15]

At the 2019 GK US Classic Leanne Wong finished fifth in the all-around behind Simone Biles, McCusker, Grace McCallum, and Eaker. She also finished tied for eighth on bars with Jordan Chiles, fourth on beam behind Eaker, McCusker, and Biles, and tied for fifth on floor with McCusker. After the competition she was named to the team to compete at the Pan American Games alongside Finnegan, Hurd, McCusker, and Eaker.[16]

At the Pan American Games Wong only competed on uneven bars and balance beam. She contributed scores on both events to the team's gold medal winning performance. She qualified to the uneven bars final in second behind McCusker and would've qualified to the balance beam final in third if not for teammates Eaker and McCusker posting higher scores than her as a maximum of two gymnasts per country may participate in each individual final.[17][18] During the uneven bars final Wong won the silver medal, once again finishing behind McCusker.[19][20]

At the 2019 U.S. National Championships, Wong competed all four events on the first day of competition but ended the night in fifth place after she received a low score on floor exercise. Her attempted second skill, a laid-out 3.5 twist, was downgraded to a laid-out triple twisting due to under-rotation, thus invalidating the intended triple twist she then performed for her final skill.[21] On the second day of competition, she performed cleanly and placed fifth in the all-around behind Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum, and Morgan Hurd. Additionally she won bronze on the balance beam behind Biles and club mate Kara Eaker. As a result she was added to the national team.[22]

In September Wong competed at the World team selection camp and placed eighth with a score of 54.750 after falling on her vault. She posted the second best score on bars behind Sunisa Lee. Following the two-day camp she was named as a non-traveling alternate for the team along with Morgan Hurd.[23][24]

2020

In March Wong was selected to compete at the City of Jesolo Trophy alongside Kara Eaker, Shilese Jones, and Sophia Butler. However, the USA decided to not send a team due to the coronavirus outbreak in Italy.[25]

Selected Competitive Skills
Apparatus Name Description Difficulty[lower-alpha 1] Performed
Vault Baitova Yurchenko entry, laid out salto backwards with two twists 5.4 2019
Uneven Bars Chow 1/2 Stalder Shaposhnikova transition with ½ twist to high bar E 2019
Komova II Inbar Stalder Shapshnikova transition to high bar E 2019
Balance Beam Switch Ring Switch Leap to Ring Position (180° split with raised back leg) E 2019
Triple Twist Dismount: Triple-twisting (3/1) laid out salto backward F 2019
Floor Exercise Andreasen Tucked Arabian double salto forward E 2019
Triple Twist Triple-twisting (3/1) laid out salto backward E 2019
Dos Santos I Piked Arabian double salto forward F 2019
3½ Twist 3½-twisting (7/2) laid out salto backward F 2019
  1. Valid for the 2017-2020 Code of Points

Competitive history

Junior
Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2017Parkettes National Qualifier691144
American Classic594
U.S. Classic96151812
P&G National Championships5265
2018Auburn National Qualifier
Pan American Championships
U.S. Classic7
U.S. National Championships6

Senior
Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2019American Cup
U.S. Classic5845
Pan American Games
U.S. National Championships5514
Worlds Team Selection Camp81168
gollark: "Balance through lag", the new system.
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gollark: Stop spreading memetic viruses.

References
  1. "usagym.org". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  2. "My Meet Scores". mymeetscores.com. May 24, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  3. "My Meet Scores". mymeetscores.com. May 24, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  4. "Leanne Wong Wins 2018 Junior National Gymnastics Title In Close Competition". Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  5. Star, Vahe Gregorian | The Kansas City. "Wong shines as USA Gymnastics star". The Guam Daily Post. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  6. "2017 Parkettes National Qualifier Results". The Gymternet. 2017-05-27. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  7. "Arenas, Wong win 2017 American Classic". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  8. "2017 U.S. Classic Results". The Gymternet. 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  9. "USA Gymnastics | Leanne Wong". usagym.org. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  10. "2018 Auburn National Qualifier Results". The Gymternet. 2018-05-29. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  11. "Biles, Wong win all-around titles at 2018 GK U.S. Classic". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  12. "2018 US Nationals – Junior Preview". The Balance Beam Situation. 2018-08-14. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  13. "2019 American Cup field features mixture of Olympic and World medalists, rising stars". USA Gymnastics. January 10, 2019.
  14. https://twitter.com/USAGym/status/1101938707219787776
  15. "USA Gymnastics names eight women eligible for 2019 U.S. Women's Pan American Games Team". USA Gymnastics. June 23, 2019.
  16. "Biles, McClain win all-around titles at 2019 GK U.S. Classic". USA Gymnastics. July 20, 2019.
  17. Lauren (2019-07-28). "2019 Pan American Games Live Blog | Women's Qualifications, Subdivision 3". The Gymternet. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
  18. "USA wins women's team final at 2019 Pan Am Games". USA Gymnastics. July 27, 2019.
  19. @USAGym (July 30, 2019). "Riley McCusker and Leanne Wong go 1-2 in the uneven bars final!! 🥇🥈 #Lima2019" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. "Neff, McCusker, Wong win event medals at 2019 Pan Am Games". USA Gymnastics. July 30, 2019.
  21. "Biles soars to top of all-around rankings at 2019 U.S. Championships, performing two new skills along the way". USA Gymnastics. July 10, 2019.
  22. "Biles soars to sixth U.S. women's all-around title at 2019 U.S. Championships". USA Gymnastics. July 11, 2019.
  23. https://twitter.com/USAGym/status/1175914444028862465
  24. "USA Gymnastics announces 2019 U.S. Women's World Championships Team". USA Gymnastics. September 23, 2019.
  25. "U.S. women to compete in 2020 Gymnix International". USA Gymnastics. March 3, 2020.
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