Three with Gator ties – Skye Blakely, Kayla DiCello and Leanne Wong – look to earn a spot on U.S.’s 2024 Olympic team
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Three Gators – Skye Blakely, Kayla DiCello and Leanne Wong – compete this weekend in the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Team Trials at the Target Center<https://www.targetcenter.com/events/detail/usag> in Minneapolis, Minn.
All compete in the senior division on Friday and Sunday:
* Friday, June 28: 6:30 p.m. ET
* Sunday, June 30: 7 p.m. ET
The 2024 Trials features 16 women competing to be among the five-member team for the U.S. Olympic Team. Both DiCello and Wong were replacement athletes for the 2020 Olympics. The U.S.’s gold-medal 2023 World Championships team included the Gator trio (DiCello – replacement athlete) and Blakely and Wong won gold with Team USA at 2022 Worlds.
Rarity: Collegiate to Olympian
Among the 16 in Minneapolis this weekend are five who competed as collegiates since the 2020/21 Olympics:
Name
School
2022
2023
2024
Jordan Chiles
UCLA
FR
SO
Suni Lee
Auburn
FR
SO
Jade Carey (Individual)
Oregon State
FR
SO
JR
Kayla DiCello (alternate)
Florida
FR
Leanne Wong (alternate)
Florida
FR
SO
JR
Florida’s Leanne Wong and Oregon State’s Jade Carey competed each of the last three season with their collegiate teams. Kayla DiCello was the 2023 Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year with Florida and then took a gap year in 2024 to train for the Olympics.
Since 1980, 75 different gymnasts represented the U.S. at the Olympics. Six earned Olympic berths after competing a collegiate season:
Gymnast
Olympics
Freshman Season
Kathy Johnson Clarke
1980, 1984
1979 at Centenary
Kelly Garrison Steves
1988
1987 at Oklahoma
Mohini Bhardwaj
2004
1998 at UCLA
Alicia Sacramone
2008
2007 at Brown
Anna Li
2012*
2007 at UCLA
MyKayla Skinner
2016*, 2020
2017 at Utah
*replacement athlete
About the Gators:
All three Gators are multi U.S. Senior National Team members, earning their most recent team spot earlier this month at the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships<https://floridagators.com/news/2024/6/2/gymnastics-trio-of-gators-named-to-us-senior-national-team-advance-to-olympic-trials.aspx>.
Skye Blakely 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021
Kayla DiCello 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
Leanne Wong 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019
DiCello claimed the 2023 Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year honor, led the nation’s freshmen with two 10.0s and earned five All-America honors in her first season with the Gators.
She announced after the 2023 season she would take a gap year to pursue a spot on the U.S. Olympic team<https://floridagators.com/news/2023/4/27/gymnastics-gators-freshman-dicello-announces-plan-to-train-for-us-olympic-team-042723.aspx>. DiCello was alternate for the U.S. gold medal team at the 2023 FIG World Championship. Later in October 2023, DiCello led the U.S. to Pan Am Games team gold and won the all-around<https://usagym.org/dicello-wins-all-around-gold-chiles-whittenburg-bronze-at-pan-am-games/>. She won the U.S. Gymnastics Winter Cup all-around in February and took all-around bronze at the 2024 Xfinity U.S. Championships.
Blakely signed with Florida in the fall of 2022 and announced in spring of 2023 she would defer enrollment to pursue an U.S. Olympic berth<https://www.instagram.com/p/CvQriUJJ3dl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==>. Blakely earned gold with the U.S.’s 2022 and 2023 World Championship teams. She took all-around silver at the Winter Cup in February and earlier this month at the Xfinity U.S. Championships.
Wong finished her junior season by claiming the 2024 NCAA uneven bars title<https://youtu.be/LcxHIbe0zYI?si=TRiqidJ1Mb6VMgwo>. She also took second in the all-around and vault to be the only gymnast with three top-2 individual finishes in 2024 NCAA competition. A member of the U.S.’s gold medal team at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, Wong took all-around silver at the 2021 World Championships. She was in Tokyo as a 2020 U.S. Olympic replacement athlete.
How to Watch:
2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials airs live:
* June 28 | 8-10 p.m. ET – Women – NBC (Gainesville/Ocala Cox Cable 9) and Peacock<https://www.peacocktv.com/sports>
* June 30 | 8:30-11 p.m. ET – Women – NBC (Gainesville/Ocala Cox Cable 9) and Peacock<https://www.peacocktv.com/sports>
