Leanne Wong heads to Swiss Cup, looking forward to another chance to represent Team USA and her final collegiate season
The two-time World team gold medallist starts her senior season at the University of Florida in January. After that? Graduation - and who knows what else.
Artistic Gymnastics
U.S. gymnast Leanne Wong’s busy 2024 season isn’t quite over yet.
The two-time Olympic alternate and University of Florida standout competed from January to April in the NCAA before turning her attention to a series of three events that determined the U.S. team for this summer’s Olympic Games Paris 2024.
This Saturday (9 November), the 21-year-old has one last stop in her busy year: the Swiss Cup in Zurich, Switzerland.
“Having another opportunity to represent Team USA… it’s just been super honoring since 2017,” Wong told Olympics.com on Monday (4 November).
At the Swiss Cup, Wong will be paired with men’s national team member Fuzzy Benas, who competes collegiately for the University of Oklahoma. It’s a non-traditional event that doesn’t require athletes to compete on all four events.
That has allowed Wong a bit of downtime between the Games in Paris and the ramp-up that comes ahead of her senior season for the Gators.
“It is kind of a fun competition, and I thought it would just be something different that I’ve never done,” said Wong. “It’s not a typical four-event meet format, so it’s like, ‘Alright, let’s do it.’”
That’s the approach Wong has taken for so long: balancing the demands of her studies at Florida, where she’s pre-med, with a popular line of signature bows that she and her family make by hand, along with her competitive duties collegiately and around the world for Team USA.
She’s a three-time world team member, having helped the U.S. squad to back-to-back world gold medal wins in 2022 and 2023.
Leanne Wong on her future in elite gymnastics: "We'll see"
Her senior season starts in January, and she expects to graduate in the spring. Then, she’ll take a gap year to finish a few remaining pre-med requirements.
From there, it’s still up in the air.
“I wouldn’t say I really have a plan,” Wong admits. “Kind of just taking it day by day, and meet by meet. I’ll just enjoy my last season in college and this meet before college, and then go from there.
“Med school is always going to be there,” she says later. “It’s just about enjoying the journey and not getting too ahead of yourself.”
Is that her leaving the door open to elite gymnastics? Only time will tell.
“I don’t know,” admits Wong about her future in the sport. “I guess, like, you can never just close the door. So we’ll see. I don’t know… like even Gabby Douglas, she never closed the door.”