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Suni Lee is all geared up to make her US Classic entry ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Fresh off a year plagued with kidney-related issues, Lee will join fellow Olympians Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas at the event scheduled on May 17-18 in Hartford, Connecticut.
Suni Lee performed at the US Championships to end her 2023 season. In February of that year, Lee was diagnosed with a kidney-related issue, which was not to leave easily. Though she announced that 2022-23 would be her last season with the Auburn University, she had to depart NCAA Gymnastics early because of persistent health problems.
Despite her comeback after battling a harrowing disease, Lee's US Classic stint in August 2023 earned her a position at the US Championships. She competed in the balance beam and vault and clinched bronze in the beam.
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Suni Lee made her gymnastic comeback at the Winter Cup, in Louisville, Kentucky. The event held more importance to her since she attempted the full-twisting Jaegar in the vault to get the skill named. Her efforts didn't come to fruition, but later at the American Classic, her two-event qualifying score on the beam and vault ensued from a phenomenal performance.
Coaching under the tutelage of Jess Graba, Lee shared with Olympics.com that she's getting back the consistency slowly and steadily. This statement was seconded by one of her Instagram stories, where she seemed excited about the upcoming US Classic event over the weekend.
"meet week," Suni Lee captioned.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Suni Lee won the all-around gold medal along with team silver and uneven bars bronze. She came fresh off the 2019 World Championships, where she won team gold, floor silver, and bronze in uneven bars.
Suni Lee isn't focusing on the bigger picture but taking slow steps towards success
Suni Lee was a notable member of the Team USA media summit in New York City. Though she's a people's favorite as a Paris Olympics contender, her words told a different tale of how her goal is to take it day by day.
She said (via Olympics.com):
"I’m not going to lie, I don't think about Paris as much right now because I am just trying to take it day by day. I want to get back out and compete an all-around competition first.”
She further added:
"The comeback has definitely been difficult"
In an interview with Olympics.com in February, she shared her transition story from lying in bed in pain to getting back to the gymnastic mat.
"During that time, I was honestly not doing a lot of anything good for me, I was just kind of rotting in my bed and hoping that it would all go away. Things are definitely way better now," said Lee.
