Laura Yihan Zeng (; Zeng Yi-Han; born October 14, 1999) is an American former individual rhythmic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. She swept all of the events at the 2015 Pan American Games and at the 2018 Pan American Championships. She is the 2014 Youth Olympic and 2019 Summer Universiade all-around bronze medalist and the 2019 Grand Prix Final hoop bronze medalist. She is an eight-time national all-around champion, six times at the senior level (2015-19, 2021) and twice at the junior level (2013-14).
Personal life
Zeng was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and raised in Libertyville, Illinois, where she attended Libertyville High School. Her parents, Li Chen and Tian Zeng, immigrated from China. After first studying Chinese dance and ballet, Zeng started rhythmic gymnastics at age seven after her friend told her about it. Her sister Yecca is eight years older than her and is a fashion designer. In 2018, Laura graduated from high school as a National Merit Scholar Finalist and committed to Yale University. She enrolled at Yale in the fall of 2021 after taking three gap years to train for the 2020 Olympic Games.
Career
When she was eight years old, Zeng won the all-around gold medal at the 2008 J.O. Compulsory Championships in level 5. The next year, she moved up to level 7 and won the all-around gold medal at the 2009 J.O. Optional Championships. Then at the 2010 J.O. Optional Championships, she finished fourth all-around in level 8. She moved up to the Hopes division in 2011 and won the all-around gold medal at the Visa Championships.
Junior
2012
Zeng began competing as a junior in 2012. She won the all-around silver medal in the junior division of the Rhythmic Challenge held in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She made her international debut at the 2012 Junior Pacific Rim Championships where she won the team gold medal and the all-around silver medal behind Canada's Patricia Bezzoubenko. In the event finals, she won ribbon gold, clubs and ball silver, and hoop bronze. She then competed in the Dundee Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria and won the all-around bronze medal behind Aleksandra Soldatova and Zhena Trashlieva. Then at the USA Gymnastics Rhythmic Championships, she won the all-around silver medal and was named to the United States junior national rhythmic gymnastics team.
2013
Zeng began the 2013 season at the Rhythmic Challenge and won the all-around gold medal. She then competed at the Gymnastik Schmiden International in Fellbach, Germany winning gold in all-around, hoop, clubs, ribbon and bronze in ball. She won another all-around gold medal at the Rhythmic National Qualifier held in Deerfield, Illinois. Then at the U.S. Rhythmic Championships in Orlando, she won her first junior national all-around title.
2014
In 2014, Zeng started her season competing at the Rhythmic Challenge winning the all-around and all four event titles. Then at the Lisbon International Tournament, she won the ball silver medal and the hoop bronze medal. At her next competition, the Pesaro International Junior Tournament, she won the hoop silver medal and bronze medals in team, clubs, and ribbon. At the 2014 Junior Pan American Championships, Zeng swept all gold medals and won the United States a spot at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. She then traveled to Minsk to compete at the Crystal Rose Junior Tournament where she won team gold, ball and ribbon silver, and hoop and clubs bronze. She defended her junior all-around title at the USA Gymnastics Championships,.
Zeng was selected as the sole representative of United States at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China. She placed second in the qualification round behind Russia's Irina Annenkova with a total score of 57.375. She went on to take the all-around bronze in the finals with a total score of 56.750, just two hundredths behind Belarus’ Mariya Trubach. This marked the first rhythmic gymnastics medal for the United States at an Olympic or Youth Olympic Games.