Leanne Wong File: Freshman Season | Sophomore Season | Junior Season | Senior Season

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Consider this a warning. If you feel overwhelmed by your schedule for the day, or if you prefer to stay in the same lane for long stretches, stop reading this. Now. Put down your device, turn off your laptop, do whatever you must to avoid this story.

It’s nothing personal. Leanne Wong is among the kindest and most amiable University of Florida student-athletes we have ever come across. And yes, if you happen to be a Gators fan or follow the U.S. National Gymnastics Team, you already know she is one of the most accomplished gymnasts of her generation.

But the 21-year-old Wong is also different. She seems to get more done in a few days than some people can pull off in years — no need to look up “high achiever” in your Webster’s. If you have read this far and have a wholesome self-esteem, it’s probably safe to keep reading.

That’s a final warning.

“We are quite proud of her,” said Marco Wong, Leanne’s father. “She even amazes me. I had to work hard in school, but if I had to do gymnastics or a sport 30 hours outside of school, I don’t know if I could do it.”

Wong wrapped up her undergraduate studies earlier this week and is set to graduate with high honors with a degree in health education and behavior. She plans to take premed courses at UF later in the year and serve as a volunteer student assistant coach with the Gators gymnastics team next season. Wong will also continue to train as an elite gymnast in preparation for the U.S. Championships in August.

That is the way Wong rolls. No time to slow down, there is too much to accomplish.

“We are pretty amazed and proud of what she has done so far,” Bee Ding, Leanne’s mother, said. “She definitely made a lot of sacrifices.”

Marco and Bee created Leanne, and they produced a life template for her to follow to be successful. Both are research scientists with doctorate degrees. Marco went on to earn a medical degree and specializes in working on clinical trials with experts from around the world for drugs to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Leanne is the oldest of their three children and the only girl.

This might help as you continue to read. Believe it or not, Leanne Wong flopped at something once. When Leanne was 4, Marco was a fan of figure skater Michelle Kwan, a five-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist. He thought it would be a good idea to put Leanne into the sport and see what she could accomplish.

It wasn’t for her.

“I thought that was a lot of fun and a great sport,” Marco said. “It was cold, the hard ice – she didn’t like it.”

He moved on to the next chapter.

The family lives in the Kansas City area, and when Leanne was 5, Marco watched an interview on TV with a prominent local gymnastics coach. Maybe that could be his daughter’s athletic outlet. Marco played football, tennis, and ran track growing up, so he considered sports an essential part of his children’s development.

“She learned a lot of life lessons,” he said. “When you fall, you’ve got to get up. It’s the big failures that really teach us the big lessons.”

The moment he watched that interview led to an adventure that Marco and Bee could have never imagined. They have traveled the world with Leanne as she climbed from an elite gymnastics standout to two-time alternate on the U.S. Olympic team, in 2021 in Tokyo and 2024 in Paris. Wong has been part of the U.S. National Team (junior- and senior-level) since she was 13, conducted her first interview when she was 14 (FloGymnastics.com) and while at Florida, she was a 29-time All-American, 2024 NCAA uneven bars champion, four-time All-Southeastern Conference selection and part of four teams to make it to the NCAA Championships, including runner-up finishes in 2022 and ’23.

Wong had a winner’s attitude long before anyone inside the O’Dome on a typical Friday night had heard of her.

“My parents have always emphasized education, hard work, and determination,” she said.

Wong arrived at UF in the summer of 2021, shortly after the NCAA implemented the NIL era (name, image and likeness) that allowed student-athletes to earn income beyond their scholarship and financial-aid packages offered by schools. To fully grasp what Wong has accomplished at UF, you must look away from the competition floor.

Over the winter break of her freshman year, she created a business selling hair bows called LeanneWongBoutique.com, which earned her the nickname “The CEO” in gymnastics circles. Wong has sold more than 10,000 to young girls who look up to her the way she did to U.S. Olympian Jordyn Wieber and others. Since then, Wong’s entrepreneurial spirit and quest to help others have bloomed in many ways.

With Bee’s help, she wrote a book about her life story, “My Journey: Trust the Process.” She expanded her bow business into a leotard business, designing leotards with her personalized touch. Meanwhile, she started the non-profit Leanne Wong Foundation to donate food that would normally be tossed into the trash to social-service programs in the Gainesville community. The foundation has donated more than 1,000 pounds of food and counting.

“Since she was young, we always tell her about how to be a strong and accomplished person,” Bee said. “Everything you do, you have to give 110 percent. A hundred percent might not be enough to accomplish what you want. I think she carried that on since she was young.”

When Wong discusses her outside interests, she quickly points out how she could not have done it alone. Gators coach Jenny Rowland was an advocate. She met with former Gators quarterback Danny Wuerffel and James Gadsby, executive director of the Wuerffel Foundation, to learn about starting a foundation. She developed a close friendship and business collaboration with Noele Figueroa for her leotard business, and regularly picks up leftover food at the Heavener Training Center and makes donation stops around town with Cindi Asmuth, who works with Sodexo Live to provide food service at Heavener, in her spare time.

Wong’s World rarely sleeps.

Ben Chase, director of NIL strategy at the University Athletic Association, works with numerous Gators student-athletes on their business ideas and branding. Today, they have opportunities that didn’t exist five years ago.

Wong could serve as the poster girl for the NIL era.

“I think she’s probably maximized it more than almost any athlete, at Florida and across the country,” Chase said. “I mean, she’s done everything the right way. And she’s also very solution-oriented when it comes to, you know, if we can’t do it this way, because of XYZ, can we do it this way?

“She’s always willing to mentor other gymnasts and athletes. It’s scary to think that when she doesn’t have to train, how focused she’ll be on building other businesses, building herself. I would never bet against Leanne Wong.”

Wong’s outside interests have flourished to the point financially, where she has been able to purchase two homes while in college, the first in December 2023. She has lived in that house for a year but is looking into starting a rental business because the home she had built will be ready to move into in the next few weeks.

“It’s been a pretty big life step,” she said of being a homeowner as a college student. “Before I bought this house, I think I had seen like 30 properties before that. I just lived on campus for the first three years. My parents didn’t really want me to live in an apartment. That’s where I kind of got that inspiration.”

Leanne’s Life is full, and she has no plans to take an extended nap.

After a few days off from school and training following graduation, she is taking a mission trip to Costa Rica this month to serve in underprivileged communities. Of course she is.

Afterward, she will be back to training for a final shot at elite gymnastics glory before returning to school as a UF graduate student.

“My ultimate goal is med school,” she said. “UF has lived up to my expectations. I found such an amazing community here, started my business while I was here, started my foundation. I have been filled with so many amazing people around me.”

If you made it this far in the story, no telling what Leanne Wong has accomplished since then.