Leanne Wong was a member of the 2023 and 2022 gold-medal winning world championship U.S. women's artistic gymnastics team. In Team USA’s Woman to Woman series, Wong sits down with women’s sports personality Ari Chambers to discuss her inspirations growing up, what it's like to balance a business as an elite athlete and more on the road to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Ari: What's up y'all? It's ya girl Ari Chambers here live with Team USA and next to me is one of my dearest, dearest little snookums, Leanne Wong. Leanne, I am so proud of you, and this segment is called Woman to Woman. So I just want to give you your flowers. I have seen you grow and just shine on the biggest stages. I have to know how do you continuously elevate your gymnastics, your artistry, your skill over time?
Leanne: I mean, just practice and practice and practice. So many hours in the gym and just every day going in the gym and just looking to improving just little bits.
Ari: You're so soft-spoken, but when you get on that mat, when you get on beam, when you get on those bars, you attack it, vault, you attack everything. So how are you able to transfer your energy, transform it from this cute little girl to such a great athlete?
Leanne: Competing is one of my favorite things in gymnastics. So I think game mode just goes on when I salute and I just have so much fun competing out there and I'm so excited to just show everyone what I've been practicing in the gym.
"I looked up to a lot of gymnasts, but I always remember Nastia Liukin and when she became the Olympic champion and I just remember her gymnastics style was so beautiful and it was really inspiring."
Ari: Tell us about how you started your own company and how that came about.
Leanne: My company started in December of 2021 after I went to my first World Championships and won two medals there. So I just used that whole winter break to get my website together, take a picture of all the bows, and that's just when my business launched. And now I've been so thankful to sell over 10,000 bows as well as my leos. And I've also started making tshirts.
Ari: Oh, I love that. Who did you look up to growing up? I just have to know.
Leanne: I looked up to a lot of gymnasts, but I always remember Nastia Liukin and when she became the Olympic champion and I just remember her gymnastic style was so beautiful and it was really inspiring.
"My company started in December of 2021 after I went to my first World Championships and won two medals there. So I just used that whole winter break to get my website together, take a picture of all the bows, and that's just when my business launched. And now I've been so thankful to sell over 10,000 bows as well as my leos. And I've also started making tshirts."
Ari: How does it feel that you're somebody's Nastia Liukin or you're somebody's favorite athlete growing up?
Leanne: I mean, that would be a dream come true. I mean, as a little gymnast, I was always looking up to gymnasts at Worlds and Olympics. And now that I'm in this place, I mean, it's actually unbelievable, just to have so many little girls looking up to me.
Ari: I want to know before we let you go, what are you most proud of Leanne Wong for?
Leanne: Honestly, I'm just super proud of where I am right now because I am balancing a lot between college gymnastics, elite gymnastics, taking my college courses on the pre-med track and running my business. So I think just learning about time management and how to balance it all.
"I'm just super proud of where I am right now because I am balancing a lot between college gymnastics, elite gymnastics, taking my college courses on the pre-med track and running my business."