Fil-Am gymnast Aleah Finnegan has always been proud of her Filipino roots even before switching allegiances from the United States and going all in for the Philippines.
And after gifting the country with two gold medals in the 2021 Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam, the 21-year-old charmer will have the chance to give her fellow Filipinos arguably the biggest achievement in all of sports: A gold medal in the Olympics.
Finnegan said she already has a foot in the door in accomplishing such a lofty goal, one that she has been eyeing since she was a kid, apparently.
“I’m halfway there. I’m qualified for the (2024 Paris) Olympics, which is still so insane to be able to say. I’ve been wanting to go to the Olympics,” Finnegan said on One PH’s Power & Play episode on Saturday.
“Since I was five years old, I was kind of calculating the age range where I would be qualified or old enough to be able to go to the Olympics, and I never thought it would be in 2024. But I’m so thankful it couldn’t have gone any other way,” she added.
Finnegan qualified for her maiden Summer Games as one of the highest-ranked gymnasts in the individual all-around qualification cycle.
The young gymnast, whose mother traces her roots to Manila, will obviously go for gold. Who wouldn’t, right? But Finnegan is also taking an even-keeled approach to what will be her biggest tournament yet and is keeping her goals modest—but also attainable.
“Looking past that goal (winning Olympic gold medal), it would definitely be making an all-around final and, hopefully, making another final as well,” Finnegan said when asked about her ultimate goal in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Making two finals would be an achievement in itself because it would mean Finnegan is among the world’s very best already. It would also push her one step closer to capturing her goal of winning a gold medal twice over.
(PM)