On January 3 this year, Aleah Finnegan had some special moments in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. She was representing her college gymnastics camp, LSU Tigers, in its season-opening game. The stakes were high, as the Tigers didn’t have their best gymnast (Haleigh Bryant) in the squad because of her injury. So, someone from the seniors group had to take the leadership. Finnegan did. 

Just the day before her 22nd birthday, the Filipino-American gymnast swept every title of the evening. Eventually, her personal mark of amassing titles in LSU touched 28, and the Tigers thwarted every challenge to claim the victory against rival Iowa State. But everything seemed connected. Aleah Finnegan started her college gymnastics right after facing an immense shock in her personal life and now she is on top of everything. Can she ignore her family’s impact on shaping it? But what about her family’s impact? 

What was Aleah Finnegan’s father’s impact on her gymnastics evolution? 

In 2019, Aleah Finnegan’s father, Don, passed away after a long battle with cancer. The loss left a tremendous impact on her life. Any specific reason? Just like other gymnasts’ stories, Aleah’s passion for the sport started watching her siblings. She has three older sisters. All of them have shared a link with gymnastics.

In her childhood, Aleah’s experience of watching them perform grew passion in her. Her parents didn’t put any bulwark on her road. Instead, Linabelle, her mother, enrolled her in gymnastics classes at the tender age of 2. According to her mother, she started talking about the Olympics when she was 4 years old. With time, the urge grew strong and her parents continued to motivate her. 

Aleah Finnegan soon began to accept the rigorous, high-level training. She even took it to a 30-hour-a-week training schedule. Yet she didn’t give up. Her father continued to take her to the championships, whereas her mother, Linabelle, kept watching her grow.

“I would threaten if she didn’t do her homework, I wouldn’t take her to gym practice. That’s how much she really loved it,” she said once. Everything was on a steady run. But the tune broke in late 2019.

Her father’s loss left Aleah and the Finnegan family nowhere. The devastating loss put blows not only emotionally but also financially. The family had put posts on GoFundMe.com, requesting financial help to carry out the rituals. Before that, there were posts put up to get financial assistance during Don’s treatment. Altogether, the family needed firm support to stand back. 

Meanwhile, Aleah found it hard to reconcile with the situation. Narrating her father’s impact on her gymnastics career, she said, “My dad was my biggest fan and showed me constant support through all stages of my career. Although he isn’t physically here, I always feel his support, and that motivates me to keep going.”

She needed that motivation before the Tokyo Olympic trials. But the grief clouded her ability. She failed to make her place in the top list of the US National Gymnastics Championships before the trials. The neat result? In 2021, the gymnast took retirement from elite gymnastics and promised to continue her college gymnastics stint. In a few days, she started her college career with the LSU Tigers. There as well, her father’s shadow made a topic. 

What about her joining the LSU Tigers? 

In 2021, Aleah Finnegan joined the LSU Tigers. She vowed to keep the college gymnastics dream alive. Per her, she had to touch milestones in her collegiate career to fulfill her parents’ wishes. During an interaction with LSU Tiger TV in 2021-22, she said, “He’s [Aleah’s father] like he was always with my biggest fan; you know he’s that person that, like, in the audience, he was there at practices, and he absolutely, like, loved LSU gymnastics, and, like, they, like, treated him like so well; it was really just like the family; that’s one of the reasons why I came here.”

That story is still active, as Aleah is in her senior year in the program. But in the meantime, she also made her comeback in elite gymnastics. How? 

How did Aleah Finnegan land on the Filipino Olympic team? 

The 22-year-old gymnast competed in the Paris Olympics, representing the Philippines. She became the first Olympic female gymnast to represent a South Asian country in the Olympic Games. But how was this possible? Because of her mother’s roots in the Philippines. Linabelle is from the Philippines and Aleah’s eldest sister, Hannah, also represented the country in gymnastics contests in 2011. Those factors opened the gate for her. 

Initially, the Philippines Gymnastics Association contacted the family to make Aleah return to elite gymnastics again. At first, she didn’t show any support. But in 2022, all resistance broke, and Aleah debuted at the Southeast Games, representing the Philippines. Her fireworks helped the contingent win a gold medal. Individually, she claimed gold in the vault event, and in the all-around and balance beam, she collected the silver medals.

That was her entry!

The story is continuing. Was there anything Aleah wanted to add regarding her change of decisions and landing in the Philippines? The gymnast conceded, “What an incredible way to give back to my mom, who sacrificed so much, and to the rest of my family members who are still in the Philippines. To represent them and my heritage is something I can’t even put into words.”

For her, the sport has now become something to practice her bonding with her roots.