Suni Lee, six-time Olympic medalist, returning to gymnastics forward of 2028 L.A. Games

Suni Lee is returning to gymnastics, the American and six-time Olympic medalist introduced in a video on Instagram on Tuesday, two years to the day earlier than the opening ceremony of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

“I know what I’m capable of,” Lee stated within the video, which confirmed coaching and competitors footage however supplied no further particulars of her plans. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there.”

Lee, 23, established her place in U.S. gymnastics historical past by successful gold within the all-around on the 2021 Games in Tokyo, after frontrunner Simone Biles withdrew from the occasion. She picked up bronze on uneven bars and silver within the workforce competitors at these video games, after which got here again in 2024 in Paris, successful bronze on bars and the all-around, in addition to gold with the U.S. workforce.

Lee’s newest comeback is outstanding as a result of even her 2024 run appeared unbelievable at instances. She was recognized with a kidney illness in 2023, which minimize brief her faculty gymnastics profession throughout her sophomore yr at Auburn.

While different athletes meticulously deliberate their coaching to focus on the Paris Games, Lee spent months managing swelling, new medicines and physician’s visits, searching for a prognosis.

Simone Biles (left) and Suni Lee have fun their particular person all-around medals on the 2024 Paris Olympics. Biles gained gold; Lee took bronze. (Naomi Baker / Getty Images)

“She was dealing with an illness that, for most people, wouldn’t allow them to go out for a walk in the park,” her physician, Marcia Faustin, advised The Athletic earlier than the 2024 Games. “It was incredibly, incredibly difficult. In the beginning, we weren’t even thinking about gymnastics. We were thinking about what her life could be.”

Doctors cleared Lee to compete in January, forward of the 2024 Games in July. Her outcomes improved all through the spring, and when she was named to the U.S. workforce alongside Biles, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera, she received choked up. “I can’t believe I’m here,” she stated on the time.

Lee hasn’t competed for the reason that 2024 Games. And whereas she by no means explicitly turned down a Los Angeles run, she hardly teased a comeback. In a Q&A on Snapchat in 2024, she wrote, “my body hurts … this sport kills me,” in response to a query about 2028.

Now, she’s returned.

“Back in the gym,” she stated within the video. “Crazy.”

Lee will chronicle her comeback in a documentary, the primary by Fanatics Studios.

“I know there’s more in me, and this is my chance to challenge myself, test my limits, and see what I’m truly capable of,” Lee told the Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. “This isn’t about proving anyone wrong. … I’m giving myself one more chance to find out what happens when I keep going.”

With her announcement, the query turns to who else from the U.S. squad in 2024 would possibly launch a run for his or her first dwelling summer season Olympics since 1996 in Atlanta. Rivera, solely 16 in Paris, has continued to compete on the elite degree within the two years since. Carey, 26, can be again after competing for Oregon State University, successful gold on vault and ground on the American Classic in June, her first elite competitors since Paris.

Biles, 29, hasn’t competed for the reason that 2024 Olympics. In April, she advised CNN that she was “at a 50-50” about coming again for the Los Angeles Games.

Chiles, 25, completed her profession at UCLA by successful the NCAA ground title in April. Like Biles, she hasn’t competed in an elite competitors for the reason that 2024 Games, however has not dominated out a comeback for Los Angeles.

“I think about it all the time,” Chiles advised NBC in May. “It’s really more about physically for me than it is mentally. So we’ll see what happens.”

Gymnastics on the L.A. Games is about to start July 15, 2028.