Suni Lee Announces Return to Gymnastics Ahead of Olympics 2028

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Try not to flip over this news: Suni Lee is back.

After a chronic kidney disease diagnosis nearly sidelined her permanently in 2023, the 23-year-old—who went on to win three medals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris—announced her time on the uneven bars isn’t over.

And she has her eyes set on the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

“I kow what I’m capable of,” she announced via voiceover in a July 14 video. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there.”

The 30-second clip sees Lee walking through a training room, remarking quietly to herself, “Back in the gym. Crazy.”

Accompanying the sequence are throwback clips chronicling Lee’s gymnastics journey, which to-date has seen her earn six Olympic medals and three World Championship titles.

The gymnast aptly captioned her announcement, “I’m back.”

And her return was immediately met with major excitement from peers and fans alike. Team USA figure skater Madison Chock called the news “amazing” while Lee’s fellow gymnast Jordan Chiles wrote alongside a red heart, “She’s back!!!!”

Over the years, Lee has been candid with her struggles, both physical and mental.

When her incurable kidney disease cut short her college gymnastics career, there was a time when Lee wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to return to the mat.

JP Yim/Getty Images for The Asian American Foundation (TAAF))

"It was really scary and really, really heartbreaking," she recalled to E! News in 2023. "I definitely went through a little bit of a mental spiral because gymnastics is my outlet and it's my safe space."

But after learning how to manage her physical symptoms and undergoing therapy to deal with the mental side effects, she proved she was more than capable of springing into the next phase of her career. (With three Olympic medals to boot.)

"I learned that nothing's going to stop me," Lee said of her 2024 return. "If I want something, I'm going to put my head into it and I'm going to get it. I kept telling myself that I wasn't going to be able to do it and I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it again, because I did lose so much faith in myself."

And while it wasn’t clear whether the Auburn grad would make a bid for the 2028 Games, her newest video is proof she’s aiming to tuck her way into one of the team USA spots.

Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

And she’s going to take it one step at a time along the way.

“That’s been my biggest thing, just focusing on what's in front of me and not what's ahead of me” she told E! News in 2024 ahead of the Paris Games. “Because otherwise I'm going to get so nervous and probably have a mental breakdown."

And even then, before heading to the Olympics, before she’d earned her more medals, Lee already felt like a winner.

"I would give myself a medal for not giving up," she noted. "There has been so much that I could have given up on and so many things that have happened to where I could have just put this aside and moved on with my life. But I wanted better for myself.”

For a closer look at some of the other gymnastics powerhouses that have powered Team USA to victory, read on.

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