04/17/24 11:43:00
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04/17 11:41 CDT Olympic champion Suni Lee back in form after debilitating
kidney ailment
Olympic champion Suni Lee back in form after debilitating kidney ailment
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
Olympic gymnastics all-around champion Suni Lee revealed that at the height of
dealing with a kidney disease last year, she questioned whether a return to top
form was even possible.
"My motivation started to fall," Lee said this week at the Team USA media
summit.
"I could not bend my legs the slightest, I couldn't squeeze my fingers, my face
was swollen," Lee said, noting she retained 45 pounds in water weight. "I
looked like a completely different person. It was very, very miserable."
She said she lived with constant pain, nausea and lightheadedness.
"We have it under control now," she said. "We know what to do and the right
medication to take."
The then-18-year-old Lee was thrust into the spotlight at the Tokyo Games when
teammate and reigning Olympic champion Simone Biles unexpectedly dropped out in
the middle of the team final, citing her mental health. Lee hadn't been in the
original lineup for the U.S. team's floor exercise but scored a team-best
13.666 to help the Americans claim a silver medal.
A few days later, Lee became the fifth straight American woman to win the
Olympic all-around title, using a dazzling set on uneven bars --- her signature
event --- to edge Brazil's Rebeca Andrade in a tight final that turned Lee into
a star.
On to Auburn University she went, but she left the Tigers upon falling ill
after her sophomore season last year. She was never a sure thing to come back
for Paris, but now she's expected to make the U.S. team, along with Biles, who
is coming back as well.
"Initially I decided I wanted to come back because I really was only getting
better and I love gymnastics," Lee said. "I was not ready to be done and I
wanted to prove to myself that I could be better than I was at the last
Olympics."
Lee is working on a new bars move that, if she pulls it off in an international
competition, could be named after her in the sport's Code of Points.
She said she had a strong support system back home in Minneapolis, which helped
her get back on the road to the Olympics.
"I was learning my new skill and I was still able to catch it even at less than
100%," she said. "It made me realize how much better I was than I thought."
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
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