Leanne Wong, an exceptional gymnast, recently experienced a significant setback. She attempted, but could not get a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, at the 2024 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Wong achieved a score of 55.550 in the women’s all-around rankings. She finished in 8th place with a cumulative score of 108.650 after the final results were calculated. That’s when people began to doubt her present abilities and prospects in the sport, which had initially seemed promising.

Wong’s performances have declined in recent competitions. Observers noticed she had trouble maintaining high levels of challenge, which is important for top gymnastics scoring. These problems were brought to light by a Redditor, who claimed that routine composition, not difficulty alone, is the root of her struggles. The community took notice of Wong’s performances with some surprise.

Wong’s issue, according to a thorough writeup by “OftheSea95,” on Reddit, is with the way her routines are put together, especially when it comes to the beam and floor. Her sequences lack the consistency needed, even if she is capable of performing skills at a hard level. Her beam performance, which if executed flawlessly may score well, has been compromised by reduced elements and missing connections.

“Both at Classics and Night 1 of Nationals she missed getting the series bonus on her opening dance series,” the post on Reddit wrote. These problems have greatly affected her scores, which has decreased her competitiveness. Additionally, chaos has been Wong’s floor routine. The routine, scheduled for a 5.7 D score and meant to earn high 13s or perhaps a 14, suffered from composition problems. Wong demonstrated her inability to find a consistent, high-scoring effort at Nationals by going back to an easier routine.

Fans single out Leanne Wong’s composition as part of the bigger struggle

Following the Reddit post, one user noticed the tiredness of Leanne Wong and wrote, “I agree that it seems she would have benefited from taking the season off NCAA. On top of all you said about having chances to refine routines, she also just looks pretty tired to me.” Considering her level of performance presently, “My realistic brain says she’s only really fighting for an alternate spot now.”

But there is still a possibility. “My hopeful heart says it’s very possible they’ll take the top 5 AA, unless someone like Carey stands out as a specialist, and there’s still possibility that Leanne could be in the top 5.” The fan added, “At this point though I think that relies too much on having more than one other person have a nightmare competition so I can’t really be wishing for it.” However, after thinking back in the post-Olympic quarantine, Wong rejoined practice and battled in her first world championships.

Her skill set controversy also garnered the spotlight. “I think part of the problem is that Leanne’s skillset from GAGE is just not optimal,” another fan observed. “They had her competing Back 3.5 Twist (F) and Arabian Double Pike (F) in the same routine before competing the Double Layout (F). Two undervalued skills that are hard to land well (blind landing), instead of the Double Layout (F)?!?!?” The admire continued, “Of course GAGE also loves chucking rings on BB/FX, which are deduction traps at best and downgrade nightmares at worst.”

However, Wong’s Olympic dream became a nightmare because of quarantine in 2021. A teammate’s positive COVID-19 test resulted in her being restricted to her hotel room. Despite its challenges, this experience inspired her to go back to competitive gymnastics and set her sights on Paris 2024. However, her recent troubles might have been caused by her rigorous schedule and frequent switching between competitive gymnastics and college.

Furthermore, some people also questioned her concentration on coaching and training. A viewer brought this to light by stating, “To be honest, it’s very clear she’s being coached by NCAA coaches who do not understand the elite code. She has such high potential with her gymnastics but her composition is largely nonexistent.” Many of her recent moves were questioned by the fan. “It’s odd how she replaced her reliable L full + turn on beam with a double wolf, worth the same amount in value that she cannot hit at all. Why did she connect her Pak + VL with no reliable backup? Why is she still bothering doing a Lopez on vault when her vault chances are nonexistent?”

Finally, the fan said, “She needs to be getting a solid front tumbling pass on floor and probably changing her beam dismount, but it seems like she’s focusing on the wrong things.” Wong once revealed she was balancing elite and college gymnastics before the start of the season, initially concentrating more on the elite. While switching between the two was difficult for her, she overcame it and occasionally completed both in a single day.

Ultimately, another admirer, thinking back to previous performances, expressed similar concerns about the arrangement of Leanne Wong’s routine. “Leanne’s 2019 routine is the peak of horrible composition… Two undervalued F tumbling skills, the potential for cascading twisting downgrade disaster, double L-turn that wasn’t around half the time, switch ring, AND L-hop full. GAGE is the absolute worst.”

Thus, fans’ in-depth responses bring to light the difficulties involved in performing at the highest level of gymnastics and the significance of coaching and routine planning for an athlete’s achievement.