Leanne Wong Opens Up About ‘Balancing’ Florida Gators With Elite Gymnastics

Mar 1, 2024 | 5:31 AM EST

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After conquering the Gym Slam with a perfect 10 on the apparatus, the 2024 US Olympic aspirant gymnast, Leanne Wong awed the Exactech Arena crowd. The 2022-23 WCGA Scholastic All-American gymnast set a nation-high record of 39.875 and a 10.0 in her walk-off floor routine against LSU. After the glorifying win of her team, the Florida Gators, Wong sat down on a podcast.

The Gator podcast that went live on YouTube on the 29th of February 2024, narrated her earlier achievements and also included a direct conversation with the 4x All-American NCAA gymnast. In the podcast, Wong opened up about trying to strike a balance between her gymnastic collegiate year and Elite gymnastics.

Leanne Wong reflects on the differences between the two careers

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The Gator podcast squeezes its topic to the most awaited magnificent Olympic Games this year. Competing for the Florida Gators in the college season and at the same time bracing for the international sporting event – the 2024 Paris Olympics, the podcast asked Leanne Wong how she is striking a balance between the two significant yet varying events. To which the 3x SEC Gymnast of the Week replied, “College gymnastics and Elite gymnastics are pretty different, but I am fortunate to be able to do both.”

Leanne Wong added, “College gymnastics you’re competing every Friday night, and the routine is a lot simpler than Elite gymnastics because in college, you’re striving for that perfect 10.” Contrary to this, elite gymnastics is more of Quality than quantity, Leanne points out. “In elite gymnastics, you don’t compete as often and you’re trying to pack your routines with as much difficulty as you can and while for perfection so that’s a little bit different there.”

With mild difficulty levels at the collegiate versus hardcore difficult routines at the Elite level, the focus primarily remains on this year’s summer Olympics. And Leanne Wong did not hide her gratefulness here. “I’m really thankful to the Gator coaches who have been very helpful with me in balancing both,” she said. This support has propelled her to eye the upcoming big battle in Paris.

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Eyeing the 2024 Paris Olympics

Leanne Wong set the gymnastic stage on fire in the 2023 US Core Hydration Classic and the 2023 Xfinity Gymnastics Championships. She then boosted her way to the Paris Olympics after magically swooping the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Belgium. She is currently learning new skills in the balancing beam, which she is also putting up to practice in her daily routines. And her coach has had a strategy for that.

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Goals set for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 2022-23 SEC balance beam champion’s coach who has been training her since she was 5 years old, strategizes her path to the grandeur. Al Fong, coach of Leanne Wong, has always believed in, “You got to take smaller, bite-sized steps. A month at a time. Two months at a time. Three months at a time. And then make a plan, and then go for it”, he had told Tampa Bay Times in an interview in 2022. Known for her signature bows, her fandom awaits her Olympic lineup at the French capital this summer season.