MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Rising Gator senior Leanne Wong is heading to Paris as a replacement athlete for the 2024 U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Team. This is Wong’s second Olympic berth, as she was a 2020 replacement athlete for the U.S.’s Tokyo team.
The team was announced following Sunday’s final day of the 2024 Olympic Trials at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. As the Olympic Trials all-around champion, Simone Biles earned the automatic berth on the U.S. roster. The remaining four members of the competing team and the replacement athletes were selected by a committee.
Team USA
Simone Biles
Sunisa Lee
Jordan Chiles
Jade Carey
Hezley Rivera Leanne Wong – replacement athlete
Joscelyn Roberson – replacement athlete The 2024 U.S. Women’s Olympic team joins the men’s team after the conclusion of the Olympic Trials. The U.S. Women’s Team includes Leanne Wong (front row, left), Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Simone Biles, Joscelyn Roberson and Hezley Rivera. Photo by Lloyd Smith
Olympics / Collegiate Connection
Since 1980, 77 different gymnasts represented the U.S. at the Olympics. Ten, including Leanne Wong, earned Olympic berths after completing a collegiate season:
Wong improved on her Day 1 scores Sunday for vault, balance beam and floor exercise, with her uneven bars mark just 0.025 away from Friday’s mark.
She opened the evening with a clean uneven bars performance. Wong made her biggest score improvements on balance beam and floor exercise. She kept deductions to a minimum on beam and had no out-of-bounds to ding Sunday’s floor score. Wong closed her competition landing her Cheng vault to earn the evening’s third-highest vault mark (14.50).
“Day 1 wasn’t super strong but I came into Day 2 wanting to leave it all out there and that’s what I did today. I’m super proud of my new vault. I never would have imagined myself competing it at the Olympic Trials so I’m super grateful for that,” Wong said following the meet.
How to Watch:
The Olympics begins Sunday, July 28 for the U.S. Women. Watch action on NBC (Gainesville/Ocala Cox Cable 9) and Peacock
July 28 Women’s Qualifications (USA in Subdivision 2, starting on balance beam)
July 30 Women’s Team Final 12:15 p.m.
Aug. 3 Women’s All-Around Final 9:30 a.m.
Aug. 4 Apparatus Final Day 1 9 a.m.
Aug. 5 Apparatus Final Day 2 6 a.m.
Wong finished her junior season by claiming the 2024 NCAA uneven bars title. She also took second in the all-around and vault to be the only gymnast with three top-2 individual finishes in 2024 NCAA competition. A member of the U.S.’s gold medal team at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, Wong took all-around silver at the 2021 World Championships. She was in Tokyo as a 2020 U.S. Olympic replacement athlete and again is on Team USA in 2024 as a replacement athlete.
