JAKARTA – National teammates are rallying behind Paris Olympian Aleah Finnegan, who will try to overcome personal grief with the recent passing of her beloved grandmother when she plunges into action Tuesday in the 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships here.
“Of course we are all behind Aleah, we’re like family and we will support and pray for her in these hard times,” said Emma Malabuyo of her fellow Paris Summer Games veteran. “We are all here in her corner.”
Finnegan was supposed to join the national women’s artistic gymnastics team on the same day of their departure to the Indonesian capital last week but had to stay in Manila longer to see the remains of her grandma, Catalina Cruz, to rest.
The mother of her mother, Linabelle, died at the age of 92 after suffering a stroke at her home in Caloocan and had been in a coma for a while, according to the athlete.
“She (the grandmother) was around me my whole life long enough,” Finnegan reminisced, her voice slightly choking. “My lola would visit us regularly in the US, bouncing around California and Missouri to look after her kids.
“She would even cook breakfast for me. She was all set to join us in Jakarta and cheer for me and the team. That is not going to happen now.”
Finnegan recalled that her fondest memory of her lola was teaching her and her other grandchildren how to make lumpiang shanghai, the fried Chinese spring rolls made up of vegetables and meat.
“My lola would let us eat all that was left of the lumpiang shanghai preparations after it was over.”
Knowing her grandmother intimately, the comely gymnast said that “my lola would not want me to hang my head down knowing all the work that we put in for this competition.
“She would want me to give my all; no half-effort.”
“My focus now is to take each step one at a time and focus and perform my routines to the best of my ability,” added Finnegan, who, together with world debutant Haylee Garcia, will vie in the women’s all-around and compete in all four apparatus – the floor exercise, uneven bars, balance beam and vault.
Malabuyo, who was excited in seeing in the world meet for the first, was pencilled in for the balance beam and floor events while Elaiza Yulo, the youngest sibling and sister of Paris Olympic double gold medalist Carlos Edriel Yulo, was likewise making her maiden appearance in the meet and taking part in the floor uneven bars.
The Philippine women’s team was set to compete in Subdivision 7 at 3 p.m. (4 p.m. Manila time) together with Indonesia, Tunisia, Colombia, Philippines, Mexico and Syria.
