After battling Kidney Disease, Suni Lee makes feelings known about dealing with nervousness while competing on the global stage

Suni Lee stood on the podium at the 2024 Paris Olympics, clutching her bronze medal, one she says means more than gold. It was a comeback after being diagnosed with two rare kidney diseases that nearly forced her out of gymnastics for a short time.

She battled kidney disease and secured three medals at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. After winning the gold medal in the women’s gymnastics all-around at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Suni Lee partnered with Sasha Farber and competed on DWTS Season 30. The duo finished in fifth place.

Lee was diagnosed during her second year at Auburn University and was scared about not being able to compete again. At a crashing moment in her life, she picked herself up and faced the difficulty with determination. Despite all the hurdles, she successfully figured out a way to navigate her kidney disease and continue her gymnastics career.

Suni Lee also spoke about getting nervous while competing in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit,

“Whenever I'm doing something new, because I am not the type of person who likes to step out of my comfort zone, I always just try to hype myself up. I give myself words of affirmation probably almost every day. I also journal, and I write down my goals, things that I want to accomplish"

She and Simone Biles are the only two Americans to win multiple Olympic all-around medals, with Biles winning in 2016 and 2024 and Lee in 2020 and 2024.

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Suni Lee shares about her 2024 Paris Olympics journey and how she navigated through her health issues

Suni Lee looks on from the podium after competing in the women's uneven bars final at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 - Source: Getty

As Lee suffered from the disease during her second year of college, she retired from college gymnastics in 2023 and moved back to her hometown of St.Paul, Minnesota. She did not compete at the 2023 World Championships and Pan American Games.

It took her a while to get back to the gym and train for the Olympics with the help of her coaches Jess Graba and Allison Lim. She told Glamour in October 2024 that,

Bars, floor, and vault were really hard for me because I couldn’t even walk up a flight of stairs. My coaches would have buckets ready to go for when I needed to throw up because my medicine made me so nauseous.”

About her bronze win in the 2024 Olympics,

“Not many people get to come here twice and compete with the best of the best. I just felt absolutely amazing. And now I’ve learned to really take everything in, and I think that’s why I’m so happy with all of my medals.” People are like, ‘You shouldn’t be happy. It’s a bronze medal. But I’m like, ‘You don’t know what I’ve had to go through to get this freaking bronze medal.’”

Suni Lee is a US-based gymnast whose family migrated from Laos. She has not yet decided about participaring in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.