Filipino American gymnast going to the Olympics for the Philippines

LSU gymnast Aleah Finnegan will booking a ticket to the Paris Olympics next year.

Filipino American gymnast Aleah Finnegan will be going to Paris 2024 following her performance at the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championship last Monday. Although born in Missouri, she will be representing the Philippines.

Finnegan, who is also one of the stars of the Louisiana State University gymnastic team, earned an all-around score of 51.366 in her world championship debut.

“It was such an honor to compete for the Philippines on the world stage. To be able to represent my family and just knowing that I did everything I could out there was really special,” said Finnegan.

The 20-year old is one of several Filipino Americans who have chosen to represent the Philippiines. Besides Finnegan, UCLA's Emma Malabuyo, University of Alabama's Kylee Kvamme and Stanford's Levi Jung-Ruivivar, are members of the Philippines women's artistic gymnastic team.

Although the Philippines team did not qualify for the Olympics, the international gymnastic federation allows for individuals to vye for medals if they qualify.

Kvamme also competed for the Philippines in Antwerp but did not win enough points to qualify.

Finnegan's all-around score of 51.366 placed her fifth on the day out of the gymnasts on non-qualifying teams to secure her spot in Paris. The Filipino-American posted 13 points in vault, 12.433 points in uneven bars, 12.7 in balanced beam and 12.833 in floor exercise. Additionally, she can now serve as second alternate for the women’s individual all-around final at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Friday, October 6.

Finnegan amassed 51.366 points for 32nd place in the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships’ qualification in Antwerp, Belgium, which gives her enough credentials to take one of 14 spots for the highest-ranked eligible athletes for the Olympics.

The Filipino American posted 13 points in vault, 12.433 points in uneven bars, 12.7 in balanced beam and 12.833 in floor exercise.

Finnegan is the first Filipina gymnast since Evelyn Magluyan in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to participate at an Olympic Games.

ALEAH FINNEGAN

Finnegan, who is from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, got a call after her freshman season to see if she would be willing to represent the Philippines internationally. 

She follows in the footsteps of her older sisters. Her older sister Hannah did so in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, while her other sister, Sarah Finnegan, a former LSU All-American, was an alternate on the US team for the 2012 London Olympics.

“I’ve been wanting to go to the Olympics since I knew what the Olympics were,” says Finnegan. “I was kind of calculating how old I would need to be and what years that would be. I never really thought growing up that it would be 2024, but here I am with this opportunity.”

A native of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Finnegan earned her spot at worlds after finishing as one of the top eight all-arounders at the Asian Championships in June to continue her journey with the Philippines at this year’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Stunning upset: Unknown upsets Pacquiao

In round nine, Manny Pacquiao almost had Jeff Horn reeling and the referee almost stopped the fight but the Australian fighter's team convinced the referee to let the fight continue.

AUSTRALIAN Jeff Horn, with 18 professional fights under his belt, upset boxing legend Manny Pacquio in a controversial decision.

Although the 11-time champion was favored, the 38-year old Pacquiao definitely showed his age against the 29-year old Horn. Punches that in the past would knock out his opponents didn't have that effect this time. Still, the Filipino boxer had his quickness and ring savvy to pull him through the 12-round match for the WBO welterweight crown.

Staged in Brisbane, Australia, the partisan crowd cheered their homeboy to victory even though he barely landed any of his punches. Horn used his aggression, a series of illegal head butts and in the clinches, punching on the back of Pacquiao's head, to make it appear like he was winning.

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The judges -- two from the U.S. and one from Argentina -- awarded the fight to the Australian. Apparently, they were swayed by the blood spilling from Pacquiao's head caused by the head butts instead of watching the gloves and where they landed.

I won't say any more. I'll let this graphic from ESPN do the talking.

ESPN GRAPHI

Enough said!

Here are some reactions from Twitter:

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Manny Pacquiao will defend his boxing title against Australian Jeff Horn

Welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and challenger Jeff Horn.

IT SAYS A LOT that Manny Pacquiao's next fight will be on ESPN this Saturday (July 1, PST) for free instead of on Pay-For-View on HBO or Showtime. He'll fight Jeff Horn. Who? Exactly!

The 38-year old pugilist will go into the ring vs. Jeff Horn, 29, in Brisbane, Australia for Paciquiao's welterweight crown.

We'll see if being a senator in the Philippines has taken the edge off of the Filipino fighter, a criticism Pacquiao disputres.

Since a 2012 KO loss to career rival Juan Manuel Marquez, it hasn’t been easy going for Pacquiao. He has been criticized for facing lesser opponents like Chris Algieri, Jessie Vargas, and Timothy Bradley in their 3rd fight; he was surprisingly easily dispatched by FLoyd Mayweather in their superfight two years ago.

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Although he's on the downside of his career, Pacquiao is still one of the best fighters in the world. Mayweather has retired.

"Yes, this is a great opportunity to show the fans of boxing that we are still here and not done in boxing," Pacquiao said this week about fighting on basic cable. "So this is a good chance and we believe that a lot of people will be watching, and we spoke to Bob and we decided to give the people a chance to watch the fight on a free station in America.

The fight is on ESPN, 9 p.m. EST, July 1st.