Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. That’s the slogan that drives Team USA’s Olympic alternates.
A slew of season-ending injuries rocked the nation’s best gymnasts at the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, highlighting the importance of understudies on the sport’s biggest stage.
“If anything happens, I’ll be ready,” said Olympic alternate Joscelyn Roberson.
The Texarkana-native and training mate of Simone Biles was just one spot away from making the five-person U.S. women’s gymnastics team, but she can still call herself an Olympian.
“I feel like it’s a hard spot to be in,” Roberson said. “I’m so excited about it, but I’m just staying focused and honestly pretending like I am going to compete at any moment because I really could.”
Roberson, 18, will be joined in Paris by Leanne Wong, 20, a two-time world champion and star at the University of Florida.
The pair accompanied Team USA on an Olympic preparation journey that kicked off in Texas and finally, France, where they have been training since July 19. Roberson and Wong unboxed their Olympic leotards with the rest of the team on NBC’s TODAY Show, participated in team bonding exercises and worked out like they will be in contention for Olympic gold, too.
“My training is the same as if I was going to compete,” Wong said. “Because in this sport, like we saw at trials, anything could happen.”
While alternate athletes are not permitted to stay in the Olympic Village and are not recognized by the International Olympic Committee, they are considered Olympians by the U.S. Olympic Committee. Wong and Roberson will be staying in a hotel nearby once their teammates move into the Village, just in case disaster strikes the U.S. women’s team in Paris.
Wong was also a traveling alternate for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, an experience that was dampened by the pandemic.
“I can say I’ve already been to an Olympics, but it was so different,” Wong said. “This just can’t compare.”
When the Tokyo Olympics finally happened in 2021, COVID precautions meant that the athletes had to undergo a rigorous screening process upon landing in Japan, which she recalls taking upwards of six hours. Still, Wong’s roommate eventually tested positive and she was quarantined for the remainder of her Olympic experience.At last year’s world championships, Roberson was injured mere minutes before the start of the team final.
Wong, having seen her teammate go down, stripped off her warm up pants in a flash and was ready to vault in Roberson’s place before many in the arena had even noticed what happened.
“It’s definitely always hard to step in, knowing your teammate got hurt, just processing that,” Wong said. “But I think just having those experiences in the back of my mind, I know I’ll be fine.”
Once Olympic gymnasts compete in the qualification round, alternates cannot be swapped in. If a gymnast is injured or unable to compete for any other reason after that point, Team USA will have to make due with one less athlete.
But Roberson and Wong’s Olympic experience won’t end there.
In a departure from past Olympics, the alternates will be staying in Paris to watch their teammates compete in the team final on July 30.
“I guess it can be kind of weird to be in the stands and not on the floor competing, but that’s my position, if I’m not needed,” Wong said. “I think it’s just cool to be there, to get to learn and just explore outside of the arena and outside of practice, too.”
Whether or not they get the chance to compete in Paris, both athletes intend to continue on in the sport.
Wong returns to Florida this fall to compete in NCAA gymnastics and complete her pre-medical studies. Roberson will matriculate at the University of Arkansas, where she will be coached by “Fierce Five” gold medalists, Jordyn Wieber and Kyla Ross.
Another Olympic run could be in Roberson’s future.
“LA 2028 is on the table,” she said. “The door is not closed, It’s definitely open.”
