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LSU gymnastics: How Aleah Finnegan's family and mental growth led her to the Olympics

koki riley, lafayette daily advertiser
·3 min read
Apr 15, 2023; Fort Worth, TX, USA; LSU Tigers gymnast Aleah Finnegan performs on floor routine during the NCAA Women's National Gymnastics Tournament Championship at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

BATON ROUGE — Aleah Finnegan hasn't forgotten where she comes from.

Finnegan, a Filipino-American and All-Around gymnast for LSU, understands the sacrifices her family made for her to not just become a collegiate gymnast, but now an Olympic gymnast as well.

"I think it's such a special opportunity to be able to represent my Mom, her family and our heritage as well," Finnegan said Monday. "She made a huge sacrifice coming over from the Philippines to the States, just going into a completely different country at 18, younger than I am now.

"It's kind of hard for me to wrap my head around."

For the first time in program history, LSU gymnastics will have an active player on its roster competing in the Olympics. Finnegan qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics after earning an all-around score of 51.366 while competing for the Philippines at the 2023 World Championships on Oct. 2.

Finnegan's accomplishment also makes her the first gymnast representing the Philippines to qualify for the Games.

"When I first started competing for the Philippines, I really didn't think that this was kind of a road that I was going to be able to take," Finnegan said. "I competed in the South East Asian Games the year before last and it was just kind of like a one-and-done competition."

This isn't the first time a Finnegan has been involved with the Olympics. Aleah's sister, former LSU gymnastics legend Sarah Finnegan, was an alternate gymnast for the United States at the 2012 Games.

Aleah remembers attending those Olympics with her family and also traveling to Rio de Janeiro to watch the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

"I'm truly excited just because I've heard so many stories about it," Finnegan said. "I've heard about the Olympic Village, (and) how the transportation works. I had the chance to meet Mondo Duplantis last weekend and just talking about the Olympic Village and gearing up for that."

Coach Jay Clark credits Finnegan, a junior, with her mental maturity and deeper understanding of her own body. It's why LSU trusted Finnegan with her own preparation for the World Championships.

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"She managed this thing with Worlds pretty much herself," Clark said. "We had a little bit of guidance and framework that we put into it but she knows her body as well as anybody obviously."

Because she already qualified for the Olympics, Clark said that Finnegan's focus from this point is on this upcoming season with LSU. The structure of LSU's season, which ends in April, allows her plenty of time to prepare for the Olympics which are slated to begin in late July.

LSU opens its season on Jan. 5 when it hosts Ohio State in Baton Rouge.

"We talk a lot about Haleigh but Aleah's role has got to continue to in terms of the leadership that she shows and the tone that she sets because she's not a hidden commodity anymore," Clark said. "Everybody knows who she is."

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Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU gymnastics: How Aleah Finnegan qualified for 2024 Paris Olympics