KC-area gymnasts Wong, Eaker headed to Summer Olympics in Tokyo as Team USA alternates
It’s official: Leanne Wong and Kara Eaker are headed to Tokyo.
They narrowly missed spots on the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics team, but both Kansas City-area gymnasts earned spots as alternates at the U.S. Gymnastics Trials in St. Louis on Sunday.
With Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee securing the top two spots at trials and Jordan Chiles an assumed third all-arounder, the fourth spot was going to be decided by tenths of a point. Wong was among the top contenders for the spot, along with Grace McCallum and MyKayla Skinner, who were both ultimately named to the team — McCallum as all-around and Skinner as the second individual, joining Jade Carey.
Wong, a recent Blue Valley High grad and incoming Florida Gator, appeared to have a legitimate chance, given that the team was in need of another strong floor routine and she was tied for second in floor with Chiles, who was also named to the all-around team.
Women’s high-performance team coordinator Tom Forster said he was committed to the integrity of the selection process and wanted to rely on performances as they were, not potential.
“One of my big responsibilities that I put on myself is retaining the integrity of competition and sportsmanship and objectivity,” Forster said, “and gymnastics is a subjective sport. We all know that. And so, as much as possible, we want the athletes to prove themselves on the competition floor in the field of play… we just feel it’s the better thing to do is to let the athletes select themselves on the field of play as much as possible.”
Just 18 days separate the trials and the start of team training in Tokyo, and because of that, Forster said the trials held more weight than the U.S. Championships, and all the athletes and coaches were aware of that. McCallum was awarded the fourth all-around spot as the fourth-place finisher Sunday.
If Wong had not fallen in her beam routine Friday and scored similarly to Sunday’s 14.000 beam score, she would have finished in fourth ahead of McCallum. But the selection couldn’t be based around what-if scenarios.
Both KC-area gymnasts will be in Tokyo as replacement athletes, ready to step in should injuries or positive COVID-19 cases occur among anyone else on the Team USA roster.
“I’m so honored to be go with these girls. They’re so amazing,” said Eaker, the recent Grain Valley High grad who will head to the University of Utah later this summer. “Just being so incredibly proud of myself and also Leanne for being able to come with me, and knowing how much we how much work we put into this and knowing that it’s all worth it.
“I work with (Leanne) every day, and I know how much that she puts in and that we do together, and just being able to experience this together, it means so much to me knowing that we both get to achieve our dreams.”
Eaker finished seventh overall with 111.097 points and second on the beam with 28.966. Her routine on the beam was one of the most difficult ones, with a start value of 6.400. The only gymnasts with equal or harder routines were Lee (6.400) and Biles (6.500).
Wong finished eighth overall with 110.532 points in a comeback from Friday’s performance. She improved or matched every score from Friday and executed a floor routine that left the stands cheering. She was one of the few gymnasts who nailed nearly every landing, and she placed second in floor behind Biles with 28.166.
“I was just really happy to make that beam routine after falling twice on the first day,” Wong said. “It was just in the back of my mind the whole time. But I just had to focus and I was just really happy to finish it off strong.
“And I’m also really happy to be going to Tokyo with Kara, since we’ve been training together for a really long time now.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2021 at 12:11 AM.