Simone Biles wasn’t the only comeback kid on the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.
Suni Lee, who captured the individual gold medal in the all-around in 2020 in Tokyo, joined Biles and their teammates in winning team gold Tuesday in Paris.
For the 21-year-old Lee, it was the culmination of her own return from two types of kidney diseases over the past year-plus since the last Olympics.
In an interview with NBC before the Paris Games, Lee said it felt “absolutely insane” that she would be able to compete in 2024.
“We didn’t think I would be here,” Lee told Hoda Kotb of the “Today” show. “There were so many times where I thought about quitting and just giving up because I was so sick, and it was just so hard to stay motivated, watching everybody get better, and I’m just like I can’t even get back into the gym and constantly doubting myself.
“But once I had those people around me who lifted me up and supported me and just made sure that I was good, I knew that this is something that I wanted.”
Lee told the New York Times in a separate interview that one of those people was Biles, who was forced to withdraw midway through the 2020 Olympics to prioritize her mental and physical health.
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The 27-year-old Biles also will compete with Lee for the individual all-around title after fronting the Americans to the team gold.
“She was, like, ‘I’m not OK,’” Biles told the Times. “I just know that she needed some encouragement and somebody to trust her gymnastics for her and to believe in her.”
Lee enrolled at Auburn after capturing her gold medal in Tokyo, but she became bloated and gained more than 40 pounds in 2023 before it was determined she was suffering from a kidney disease that ran in her family.
The Minnesota native also has said that she dealt with stalkers after she arrived at college.
Lee took a brief break to focus on her health, which improved with medication and dietary changes, before she left school and returned to training in order to concentrate on qualifying to retain her spot on Team USA earlier this year.
“This comeback was so much more than my return to elite gymnastics,” Lee wrote on Instagram last August. “It was me proving to myself that I can overcome hard things, and to hopefully inspire others to never let life’s setbacks stop you from going after your dreams.”
Lee competed in three of four rotations — all but the vault — on Tuesday, and she has qualified to defend her individual all-around title later this week.
“A year ago,” Lee added recently, “I didn’t even think this was possible.”