US’ Sunisa Lee competes in the floor exercise event of the artistic gymnastics women’s all around final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP) (Photo by LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Suni Lee is back. The 23-year-old announced her Olympic gymnastics comeback on social media Tuesday morning. “I know what I’m capable of,” Lee said in the video. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there.”
Lee’s announcement joins a wave of comeback announcements from the sport’s veterans, including her Olympic teammates Jade Carey and 29-year-old former elite and UCLA star Katelyn Ohashi.
With her return to the sport, Lee becomes the third of five 2024 Olympic team members to return to elite gymnastics, joining Carey and Hezly Rivera.
A Decorated Olympic Career
At just 23, the Minnesota native is already among the most decorated U.S. gymnasts in history, having collected six Olympic medals across the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games.
In her 2021 Olympic debut, Lee became the first gymnast of Asian descent to win the coveted Olympic all-around title. She also collected silver in the team competition and bronze on the uneven bars.
In between her Olympic successes, Lee had a two-year stint as a member of the Auburn University women’s gymnastics program, where she became the first Olympic all-around champion to compete in NCAA Gymnastics.
Lee helped the middling Tigers program to historic heights, leading them to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships as a freshman and winning the NCAA title on balance beam. After the sudden onset of kidney disease, Lee’s collegiate career was cut short in April 2023.
At her second Games, Lee overcame severe kidney disease to clinch three more Olympic medals, helping Team USA win gold in the team competition and bronze in the all-around and on uneven bars. With her successes, she officially became the seventh most-decorated American gymnast of all time.
Looking Ahead to LA 2028
Though Lee did not specify a timeline for her competitive return in the short video, her previous comeback began in 2023, the year preceding the Olympic year (2024). Thus, a return for the 2027 season would put the veteran in prime position to vie for her third straight Olympic appearance, this time for the 2028 LA Olympics.
She intends to return to her native Minnesota to train at Midwest Gymnastics, her longtime elite gymnastics club. For now, the gymnastics community celebrates and waits.
“This is more than a comeback, stay tuned,” she wrote.