Coco Gauff, Hezly Rivera and more react as Suni Lee bids farewell to 2024 with an emotional message

Suni Lee has received messages of support from Coco Gauff, Hezly Rivera and more athletes as she bid farewell to 2024 with an emotional message. The American gymnast was unsure of her participation in the Paris Olympics at the start of the year before rising to the occasion in the French capital.

Lee bid adieu to 2024 with a carousel of pictures, explaining how a year that started as the hardest due to kidney problems turned into one of the best for her before thanking fans for their unwavering support.

"2024 easily started out as one of the hardest years but turned out to be one of the best years!! 🥹🥹❤️truly so grateful for every opportunity and all the amazing people this year brought me 💛 here’s to 2025 🥂," she wrote.

2023 US Open Champion Coco Gauff was amazed at the gymnast's turnaround, commenting:

"amazing ❤️"

Lee's Olympic teammates and fellow gymnasts were beaming with pride for the Tokyo all-around champion.

"so proud of you," Jade Carey wrote.

"so so proud of you ❤️❤️," Paris Olympics champion Hezly Rivera wrote.

"proud of you and everything," Kayla Dicello wrote.

Athletes react to Suni Lee's emotional 2024 farewell

The 21-year-old was largely out of competition in 2023 and also dropped out of Auburn Gymnastics after being diagnosed with a rare kidney disease. She was ruled out of competitions at the start of January 2024 before her health began improving as she returned to competition at the Winter Cup.

While she didn't compete at her full potential during the initial events, Lee competed in all four apparatus for the first time at the US National Championships and eventually went on to make the team for the Paris Olympics. She led USA to a gold medal in the team competition alongside Simone Biles before winning two bronze medals in all-around and uneven bars competitions.

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Suni Lee explains how Simone Biles calmed her down after a panic attack at the Paris Olympics

Olympic Games Paris 2024:Simone Biles and Suni Lee celebrating - Source: Getty

Speaking in an interview with Glamour after being named of the magazine's Women of The Year, Suni Lee revealed that she suffered a panic attack the night before the women's team finals at the Paris Olympics. Her Olympic Village roommate Jordan Chiles called on Simone Biles afterward, who gave a little pep talk to the 21-year-old.

"You need to walk around like you’re the reigning Olympic champion, and you need to own it. You need to remind yourself that you’re good enough, and you are on this team for a reason," Biles told her.

Lee had become the first Asian-American gymnast to win the all-around title at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. After winning bronze in the same event in Paris, she was even prouder of herself for everything she had to go through to reach the Olympic stage.