Nov. 5, 2012

STANFORD, Calif. - On Sunday, we asked the question, Who Am I? Today, the identity of the mystery Stanford gymnast is revealed: It's Stanford sophomore Ivana Hong. In a poem posted Sunday on gostanford.com, Hong gave some clues as her identity. Among the characteristics she revealed: "I am a competitor and I am driven," and "I can snap and whistle."

Enjoy the video interview and Q&A with Ivana:

Q: Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving Break?
I am! I believe I'm going to drive home with Alex so that will be fun. It's been pretty crazy so far with school and doing the HumBio core so having a little break will be nice. My family moved back to SoCal and it will be the first holiday that we're all back together since I was 11 so that's exciting.

Q: How is sophomore year different than freshman year?
A: The classes I've actually been enjoying because I've been able to choose them. As far as gymnastics, knowing what to expect and what is expected of us in some ways is easier and in some ways is not. Knowing the kind of work we have to put into be successful is in some ways exciting because I know I'm willing to do that.

Q: Are you particularly looking forward to anything academically this year?
A: I'm taking Chinese which I've never really spoken that much. In class we're actually speaking it. I've always wanted to be fluent and this will get me closer to it. In HumBio, I actually enjoy it because I'm really interested in how humans work. So, even though it's a lot, it's still something that I enjoy, on a topic I enjoy.

Q: Do you have a favorite memory from SWG so far?
A: Qualifying to Super Six. It felt like no one expected us to go that far. It was the feeling of everything paying off. Having just that extra day of competition was so awesome because I love competing with the team. So it was great to be able to just keep competing and feeling like we had worked so hard.

Q: What's your funniest SWG story?
A: Any moment with my class is always funny. We just laugh at so many different things. I love doing our Halloween dress-ups. My class never actually wins, but I feel like we win in the process. Last year, we went as a family and Alex and I were husband and wife and I just remember laughing so hard the night before. Basically any moment with the team and specifically my class; there's just always something that we end up making funny.

Q: The team's motto this season is "All in. Every Moment." Is there a particular time that that really resonated with you?
A: This year, after a long practice when we first started doing gymnastics. We were doing a beam challenge and you could tell all the girls were all in. Every girl hit her series cold and it was the first time this season that, through gymnastics, you could see that everyone was all in, every moment.

Q: What are you looking forward to the most about the upcoming season?
A: Definitely just all of competition season. It's a time that we get to show off all the hard work that we put into it. It's like our stage. Getting able to compete with these 15 girls and represent Stanford and SWG is a really irreplaceable feeling.

Q: What should we expect from SWG this season?
A: I would say big gymnastics. Aggressive. Something that stood out to me from last year is to let go of your body and go with your heart. And this team has such big hearts. This week our word was purpose and you could really feel that in every turn.