LOS ANGELES: A little more than a year after her doctors told her she might never compete again, reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee will be chasing redemption in Paris. While the pre-Olympic hype has focused on Simone Biles’ successful return to elite gymnastics, Lee’s road back to the pinnacle of her sport has been every bit as challenging as her team-mate’s. The 21-year-old - who took all-around gold in Tokyo three years ago after Biles’ sudden withdrawal due to mental health issues - was diagnosed with two undisclosed kidney conditions in early 2023.

"My doctor was telling me he didn’t think I’d be able to do gymnastics ever again,” Lee told reporters earlier this year. "So to even be here is an accomplishment in itself and I’m super proud of myself.” Lee punched her ticket to the Olympics at last month’s US trials in her home town of Minneapolis, finishing second overall - behind Biles - with 111.675 points. "I’m so, so glad that I never gave up,” Lee said after that performance.

"There were so many times where I thought about just quitting and just kind of walking away from the sport because I didn’t think that I would ever get to this point.” Lee has pointedly declined to elaborate on the precise nature of her illness, indicating she will do so on her own terms. However she said in April that her condition was "in remission” and revealed that she considers herself to be a stronger gymnast now than she was at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.

"It was a lot to process at the time,” Lee said. "But I feel so much better because I’m way better already than I was at the last Olympics. And I didn’t even think that I could get better than that. So that gives me a little more comfort. And knowing that anything that I put my mind to I can accomplish.” Lee however acknowledges that retaining that level of confidence is an ongoing struggle. "Whenever I’m talking to my coaches, I get really sad because I’m never going to be the same. I’m not the same Suni, I’m not the same athlete,” Lee said in April at a US Olympic team media event in New York. 

"And they’re like, ‘Good. You don’t want to be. You’re doing everything and more right now, and you should be proud of the way that you’ve been able to come back from everything because you never thought that you would be in this position.’ And I was like, ‘You’re so right!’”

Lee said that the motivation to make the Olympics was given a jolt earlier this year when she received a phone call on January 4. She declines to say who the call was from, or what was said, but it provided her with the impetus to do her utmost to get to Paris.

"There was one day that changed literally everything, and it was just like a simple phone call,” Lee said. "I can’t really talk about it. But it was a simple phone call.

"And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going back into the gym tomorrow, and I’m gonna be better than I ever was.’ And that was the day I was like, Yep, this is what I want. And I’m gonna put my mind into it.”

Lee, who became the first Hmong-American gymnast to compete in the Olympics in 2021, prides herself on being a role model for members of her community in Minneapolis.

Training at her local gym she often encounters Hmong-American children inspired by her victory in Tokyo three years ago. "I’m hanging out with them all the time I bring them gifts, like I treat them as like my little sisters,” she said. "It’s nice to have that kind of support. I give them my leotards, or candy, just little things, but they love it.

"It’s just so special because I’m in the gym by myself training ... once I get to see them, it just makes my day better.” – AFP