Leanne Wong
Leanne Ashley Wong 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, and was a member of the team that won gold at the 2019 Pan American Games.
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.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. She later competed at the American Classic in Texas, winning gold medals in the all-around and on vault. 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.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.
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.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. 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. 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. 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 and Japan's Mai Murakami, who tied for third place. She debuted numerous upgrades, most notably a piked double Arabian 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.
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.
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. During the uneven bars final Wong won the silver medal, once again finishing behind McCusker.
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. 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.
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.
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.Selected Competitive Skills
| Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty | 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 |
| Uneven Bars | Komova II | Inbar Stalder Shapshnikova transition to high bar | E | 2019 |
| Balance Beam | Switch Ring | Switch Leap to Ring Position | E | 2019 |
| Balance Beam | Triple Twist | Dismount: Triple-twisting laid out salto backward | F | 2019 |
| Floor Exercise | Andreasen | Tucked Arabian double salto forward | E | 2019 |
| Floor Exercise | Triple Twist | Triple-twisting laid out salto backward | E | 2019 |
| Floor Exercise | Dos Santos I | Piked Arabian double salto forward | F | 2019 |
| Floor Exercise | 3½ Twist | 3½-twisting laid out salto backward | F | 2019 |