Suni Lee is ready to make an Olympic-size comeback. This weekend, she's appearing in her first elite gymnastics competition since the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. She'll be doing so alongside teammate Simone Biles, who's competing for the first time since Tokyo.
Since the Games, Lee has dedicated her energy to collegiate gymnastics, competing for two seasons at Auburn University, where her 2022 season was the most decorated in program history. Now, the 20-year-old is hitting pause on that part of her life in order to set her sights on the next Olympics, coming up in Paris in 2024. This weekend, she'll step onto the floor at the US Classic and start down the path toward another Olympic Games - where, let us remind you, she is the reigning all-around champion.
Lee first announced her return to elite gymnastics in November 2022, when she posted a video to Twitter and Instagram explaining her decision. "Today, I am sharing a decision that has weighed on me for a really long time," she says in the video. "As an athlete that has competed at the highest level, on the world's biggest stage, I've been fortunate enough to experience that once-in-a-lifetime feeling and the indescribable emotion when a gold medal is draped around your neck. But I don't want it to just be once in a lifetime."
At the end of June, as part of her work with Lego's Team Unstoppable - a cohort of women, athletes, and changemakers committed to breaking down the barriers of play limitations - Lee talked with POPSUGAR about her return to elite gymnastics and saying goodbye to her college gymnastics career, which she has called the "best two years of [her] life."
"I'm really excited, but I'm also super nervous," she says. "It's scary getting back out there, and having this condition has been really difficult." In April, Lee announced that she'd been dealing with a kidney-related health issue and that it cut short the end of her sophomore Auburn gymnastics season.
In spite of that, Lee still says that "this past season was probably the best season" and a "really great setup going into my elite competition season." One thing she loved about the collegiate gymnastics environment was that she got to train with a team versus by herself. If you've watched college gymnastics, you've likely also seen how lively the meets are - full of camaraderie, sideline dancing, and supportive cheering from teammates and people in the stands. This is in stark contrast to the more serious and individualistic elite gymnastics scene.
"It was super exciting going out there competing with the team, having all these girls behind your back no matter how well or how bad you did out there - like, at the end of the day, that was your family," she says. "I mean, the energy was amazing and the crowds . . . it's going to be a little different going back to elite and competing because when you're up there, you're competing for yourself and don't necessarily have a big team behind you. It's just you up on the podium."
Despite the fun team vibe, college wasn't a cakewalk for Lee, who was juggling a lot; she came home from the Olympics to a whirlwind of press, then competed on "Dancing With the Stars" and jumped directly into college life - and things didn't slow down once she was there.
"I'm not gonna lie, college was really difficult - having to do school and then on top of it, I had a lot of work stuff, so I was traveling a lot, and then making sure that I was maintaining my stuff in the gym. And just staying strong mentally, too, was very hard," she says. "But I feel like I learned that I was a lot stronger than I thought, and that I'm capable of doing anything that I want if I just put my mind to it."
No doubt, she'll bring that mindset into her return to elite competition and hopeful attempt to repeat her Olympic dream.
"I'm super excited to see all my friends again and to compete on the big podium and just be a part of Team USA . . . and a lot of the girls that I competed in college with are also making comebacks," she says.
Lee has been one of several US Olympic gymnasts to compete in the NCAA for the past two seasons, including her Tokyo teammates Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Grace McCallum. Chiles and Carey both simultaneously balanced their elite careers with the NCAA, becoming the first US Olympic women gymnasts to compete in an elite competition after a season of college gymnastics.
"I know what I have to do to get [to Paris]," Lee says in the video posted to her social media about her return to elite. "I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and putting in the work. Gymnastics is my passion and something that I love so deeply because it pushes me to be the best version of myself every single day."
That idea of endless potential is what resonated with Lee when it came to joining Lego's Team Unstoppable, which prioritizes uplifting and celebrating girls' interests, passions, and imaginations. "I think it's so important to spread the message that no matter what your passions are, if you continue to believe in yourself and dream big, you can unlock your greatness," she tells POPSUGAR. "It's just something that I tell myself every single day because not every single day is gonna be a good day. When I'm training, it helps to think about the future and what I'm doing this for."
You can watch the senior women's division of the US Classic live on CNBC on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 1-3 and 7-9 p.m. CT, or watch the division recap on NBC on Sunday, Aug. 6, from 3:30-5 pm CT.