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Suni Lee was recently nominated for the 2025 ESPY Best Comeback Athlete award alongside skiing legend Lindsey Vonn and footballer Mallory Swanson. Reacting to the news, the gymnast got emotional about her accomplishment.
Lee’s nomination comes after her tumultuous journey to the Paris Olympics. A year prior to the Games, the 2020 Olympic all-around champion was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease that left her gymnastics career in question. While doctors weren't sure if the 22-year-old would be able to compete again, she persevered against all odds to qualify for her second Games.
In Paris, Suni Lee helped USA win the team gold medal, while clinching two individual podium finishes herself. For her accomplishments, the gymnast has been nominated for the 2025 ESPY Best Comeback Athlete award. Reacting to this, Lee shared the news on her Instagram story and wrote,
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“🥺🥺”
Suni Lee shares her experience with kidney disease
Suni Lee won the all-around gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, making history as the first Asian-American gymnast to accomplish this feat. After returning from the Games, she began competing for Auburn University in the NCAA.
Lee first felt symptoms of her disease in February 2023, when she woke up and felt swelling all over her body. In an interview with SELF magazine, she said,
“I kept peeling off the bar. I couldn’t hold on. My fingers were so swollen, and I couldn’t even do a normal kip cast to handstand on bars. I just kept getting more swollen and I think I gained, like, 40 pounds. It affected my whole body and how I looked and how I was feeling.”
In a separate written essay for the Women's Health Magazine, Lee revealed that there were days when she wanted to quit gymnastics, writing,
“There were days when I was so frustrated that my body couldn’t do what it used to that I’d leave the gym in anger, determined to quit. Sometimes I wasn’t even sure I wanted to compete. But then I thought about little Suni and the big dreams she had. And I knew I couldn't let that little girl and her big dreams down. So I kept pushing, kept putting one foot in front of the other—every day a little stronger, every day doing my best and nothing more or less.”
Suni Lee has been diagnosed with two kidney diseases, but she has chosen to keep the details of her condition private. Since returning from the 2024 Olympics, the American has been enjoying some time away from gymnastics and has moved to New York in order to explore the world of fashion and more.
