Suni Lee is one of the most talented gymnasts in the world. In fact, such is her talent, that it came as a relative surprise when she decided to attend college even though she realistically could have gone all-in on professional gymnastics and carved out a successful career there.
She was an Olympic gymnast even before she began attending Auburn University. As a result, she was quite profitable since many athletes make a lot of money from their contracts with their teams or their performances at a given event.
However, the real money generally comes from endorsements. Athletes who get endorsements tend to increase their overall wealth by a fair amount. Consequently, even though Lee might be one of the world's top gymnasts, endorsements are where the bulk of her earnings lie.
Thanks to the new NCAA agreement that lets its athletes sign endorsement deals and profit off of their own image, players like Lee can have these sponsors while in college.
Speaking of Lee's endorsements, Jeff Graba, the gymnastics head coach at Auburn, said:
“The timing is perfect for her. She wants to be the poster child for NIL. She wants to prove you can have it all.”
And Lee does indeed have it all.
She is endorsed by the Pearson+ app right now and has a net worth of a staggering $2 million at just 19 years old.
As a result of her partnership with Pearson+, she has reportedly been able to monetize her social media posts, potentially making $100,000 USD for each sponsored one.
Though it wasn't an endorsement, she was also on Dancing with the Stars, where she further pumped up her net worth with a stellar performance.
As of now, those are all the endorsements that Lee has accrued over her brief but star-studded career. Given her talent, one can accurately predict that the future assuredly holds many more such endorsements for her.
Suni Lee's incredible career
Most people spend an entire lifetime without ever becoming a gold medalist. Even those who do win gold at some point generally don't win it before they are even old enough to go to college.
However, Lee is the exception in this case and already has three Olympic medals under her belt at this point. While she has only participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it is almost certain that she will be in Paris for the 2024 Summer Games.
In 2020, the gymnast took home gold in the all-around event. She also grabbed bronze on the uneven bars and helped Team USA clinch a silver medal in the team event.
Before that, she competed in the 2019 World Championships at Stuttgart. There, her team won gold in the team exercise. She also won the silver medal in the floor exercise, and a bronze on the uneven bars.
In college, she has continued her legendary career, and posted an incredible five perfect 10.0 scores already:
- February 5, 2022- Auburn @ LSU, uneven bars
- February 25, 2022- Auburn vs. Kentucky, balance beam
- March 4, 2022- Auburn vs. Florida, balance beam
- March 19, 2022- SEC Championships, uneven bars
- April 2, 2022- NCAA Regional Finals, balance beam
She will be a student at Auburn until 2026 and will more than likely have more Olympic medals, more World Championship medals and more incredible performances.