Ivana Hong

Ivana Hong
Hong at the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Country represented	United States of America
Born	December 11 1992 (1992-12-11) Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Years on National Team	2007-2009
Club	WOGA GAGE (former)
Coach(es)	Valeri Liukin & Natalya Marakova Al Fong & Armine Barutyan Fong (former)
Current status	Retired
College team	Stanford University
Twitter	@IvanaHong

Ivana Hong (born December 11, 1992 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal American team at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the all-around bronze medalist at the 2007 Pan American Games. Hong was named an alternate to the 2008 U.S. Olympic team and was a member of the U.S. Women's Team in the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in London.

Hong is of Chinese and Vietnamese ancestry. Hong lived in Blue Springs, Missouri, and trained at Great American Gymnastics Express (GAGE) for four years. She left to train under Valeri Liukin at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA).

Career

Hong qualified to Junior Elite status in 2004 and made the United States Junior National Championships at age eleven. While she was not successful in making the national team, she had nonetheless made her mark on the United States gymnastics scene. A year later, she qualified to the national team. She did so again in 2006, earning a solid 5th place in the all-around and a bronze medal on beam.

Hong became a Senior International Elite in 2007. She was part of the American team which won gold in the Pan-American Games in Brazil. Hong also won a bronze medal in the all-around at this competition. Hong's strong showing at this competition and the U.S. Nationals qualified her to the World Championships team where she again won gold as a member of the United States team.

Hong earned a spot on the 2008–2009 U.S. Senior National team, and competed for a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. Hong offered clean lines and tremendous form throughout the selection process, but did not earn a particularly high mark on any of the four pieces of apparatus, making it difficult for her to contribute in the team finals format where only the top three gymnasts on each event compete. Hong's skill as an all-around athlete without a weak event enabled her to be named, along with Jana Bieger and Corrie Lothrop, as one of three alternates for the U.S. Olympic team.

Following the Olympics, Hong left her former gym and moved to WOGA to train with Valeri Liukin.

Hong finished second in the all-around at the 2009 U. S. National Championships with a total score of 117.250 in Dallas, Texas. Ivana also won the national title on balance beam with a total score of 30.350 (15.150 on Day 1 and 15.200 on Day 2.) She also won the vault, scoring 14.700 on Day 1 and 15.250 on Day 2 (total 29.950) to edge out Bridget Sloan by a 0.05 margin.

At the 2009 World Championships in London, Ivana scored a 14.550 on balance beam to win the bronze medal on the event. This accomplishment made medalists of all four American gymnasts (Bridget Sloan, Kayla Williams and Rebecca Bross in addition to Hong) in the women's competition.

In early March 2010, Hong suffered a torn ACL in her right knee. The injury occurred at the national team training camp as she was landing a vault. She is to have surgery and will be out for several months.

As of 2012, Hong has retired from international and senior competition. She now competes at NCAA level for Stanford University.

At the 2013 National Championships in August, Hong was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame with the rest of the 2007 World Championship team.

Medal Count

Year	Event	TF	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2002	U.S. Challenge		3rd	6	9	1st	4
2003	American Classic		2nd	7	1st	1st	3rd
	U.S. Challenge		2nd	5	6	2nd	6
2004	Junior American Classic		1st	2nd	1st	1st	4
	Junior U.S. Classic		10			3rd
	Junior Visa Championships		16	18	13	5	17
2005	Top Gym Competition		3rd		1st	1st
	Junior U.S. Classic		9			2nd
	Junior Visa Championships		8			4	7
2006	USA/Japan/New Zealand Competition	1st	3rd			3rd	3rd
	Junior U.S. Classic		9			2nd	8
	Junior Visa Championships		5			3rd	7
2007	USA vs Great Britain International	1st	5			3rd
	Houston International Invitational		2nd	3rd		2nd
	Rio de Janeiro Pan American Games	1st	3rd
	Visa Championships		4		8	5	5
	Stuttgart World Championships	1st
2008	Friendship International Exchange		1st		4	2nd
	Visa Championships		5		7	6	6
	U.S. Olympic Trials		5	8	5	8	7
2009	CoverGirl Classic		2nd	3rd		1st	5
	Visa Championships		2nd		5	1st	6
	London World Championships					3rd
2010	WOGA Classic	1st				3rd
2012	NCAA Gymnastics Championships	4				4

Floor Music

2005-2008 - "Ov Sirun Sirun" by Armine Simonyan and Artavazd Tadevosyan

2009 - "My Sweet and Tender Beast" by Eugen Doga