Jenny Wong, daughter of Andrew and Florence Wong, was born and raised in Woodbury, Minnesota, along with her older brother Wesley. One day, she overheard a couple of her math classmates talking about going out for wrestling and thought she would like to give it a try. Jenny was aware of one other girl who had wrestled the previous year – she was a couple of weight classes heavier than Jenny – but Jenny was more comfortable going out for wrestling knowing she would have another female as a workout partner. Jenny was just starting to learn some basic wrestling moves when the Woodbury 119-pounder decided to quit. Jenny was the only other wrestler at the weight, so Coach Gary Diamond asked her if she wanted to wrestle as the varsity 119-pound wrestler, and she accepted. Jenny took some lumps that first year, but hung in there. She came back out as a sophomore and showed improvement, but still did not win a single match. Jenny notched her first varsity win as a junior and had a .500 record as a senior.

During this time, Jenny wrestled Freestyle in the spring and did quite well competing against other girls. Wong was a four-time State Freestyle Champ and made the Junior World Team in 1999. Looking back, Jenny realized that she was “pretty soft” when she first stepped into the Woodbury wrestling room as a freshman, but the physical and mental toughness and resilience she developed in that high school practice room were the keys to her success in the spring.

After graduating from Woodbury, Jenny enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and began working on her Pre-Med degree. She wanted to continue her wrestling career and hoped to train with the Badger wrestling team. Coach Barry Davis and the athletic department were not very enthusiastic about having a woman on their men’s wrestling team, but she did meet assistant coaches Terry Steiner and Cary Kolat, who both became instrumental in helping Jenny further develop her wrestling skills. Jenny transferred to Lockhaven the following year and enjoyed her time there as part of the team wrestling under head coach Carl Poff and assistant coaches Doug Buckwalter, Rocky Bonomo, and Cary Kolat. Her main workout partner was Sarah McMann, who would later become our country’s first Olympic Silver Medalist in Freestyle in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Jenny was able to further her Pre-Med education and grow as an athlete and a person at Lockhaven. After two productive years at Lockhaven, women’s wrestling was added to the Olympic Games and a resident athlete program was established at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, so Wong transferred to the University of Colorado and completed her education on an elite athlete scholarship and was able to train under excellent coaches and work out with some outstanding athletes at the Olympic Training Center.

Wong made the 2003 Senior Freestyle World Team at 51 kg and earned a Bronze Medal at the 2003 World Championships in New York. Jenny decided to cut down to 48 kg for the 2005 World Team Trials, as this would be the weight class in Olympic Years. Jenny won the world Team Trials, but keeping her weight down over the next couple of months took its toll, and she failed to medal in Budapest. In 2007, Jenny went back up to 51kg, but was defeated by Patricia Miranda in the Trials. Miranda later had to bow out with a knee injury just two weeks before the World Championships, and this placed Jenny on her third World Team. Wong took one last shot at making the 2008 Olympics, deciding to go up to 55kg, but was not quite big enough for the weight class, especially with some of her competitors cutting over 20 pounds. Jenny placed second in the National Tournament and was seeded first in the mini-tournament, but was not able to overcome the size advantage and did not make the Olympic Team.

Jenny had already been accepted into medical school, so she retired her wrestling shoes and enrolled at the University of Des Moines, where she completed her Doctorate in Osteopathy, then traveled to Michigan for her Emergency Medicine residency, and finished up with a Sports Medicine fellowship in Fort Worth, Texas.

Jenny currently resides in Modesto, California, where she works as a Sports Medicine Physician. She feels fortunate to be near her parents and her brother, who have been living in the Bay Area for a number of years.

Wong no longer competes in wrestling but trains regularly and competes in Jiu-Jitsu and recently earned a Black Belt under her esteemed professor, Samir Chantre. She feels the experience she gained as a wrestler has enabled her to persevere through some difficult and arduous academic and professional challenges. Jenny is grateful for the unconditional support of her family as well as some of the outstanding wrestling people who have helped her along the way – starting with Greco coaches Dan Chandler and Ed Kane as well as Chris Poff, Rocky Bonomo, Cary Kolat, Terry Steiner, and Sarah McMann, and also the many coaches and competitors that she has had the privilege of working with and competing against throughout her wrestling journey.