PARIS– Sunisa Lee called coach Jess Graba not long ago and said it was over.
The process of trying to navigate two kidney diseases that made the 2020 Olympic gymnastics champion’s weight yo-yo become too much. The uncertainty. The frustration. All of it.
Come to the gym, Graba told her. This is not a decision you make over the phone.
Then they sat down and talked. The desire to retire has passed. Lee stayed in the gym and slowly – very, very slowly – the skills and endurance that made her the best in the world returned.
Externally, she didn’t need validation. Internally, she did. And on Thursday night, inside Bercy Arena, the proof was hanging around Lee’s neck: a bronze overall that Lee wasn’t sure she was worthy of until IOC President Thomas Bach put it in her head.
“I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it because I didn’t think I could,” Lee said.
Kind of. There’s a toughness about Lee that belies the grace of his gymnastics. She trusted that for months as she and Graba put together a plan that ended with Lee finishing on the podium alongside good friend Simone Biles and Brazilian Rebeca Andrade.
Biles and Andrade were expected to be here. They arrived in Paris after facing each other at the world championships last fall. Lee was not part of that team. She wasn’t ready.
She was in front of a crowd that included the USA men’s national basketball team and Kendall Jenner. Most showed up to watch Biles. Lee reminded them that when she’s at her best, she can put on a pretty good show in her own right.
Lee continues to be a marvel on the uneven bars, where she will compete for a medal later in the Games. She will also be in the beam final, thanks to a series that mixes elegance and athleticism.
Still, floor exercises can sometimes be a challenge. She entered the final rotation off the podium. Graba made things very simple.
“Win the track and you win” (a bronze) he told her.
Lee managed, in her own way, to surpass Kaylia Nemour of Algeria to become the first Olympic champion to medal at the following games since Nadia Comenci did so in 1980.
Heady territory for an athlete who still wonders from time to time how she will feel that day. She racked up more good days than bad, besting teammate Jordan Chiles for a spot in the all-around final and then putting together four routines that were equal, if not better, than the ones she produced in Tokyo three years ago. , when he defeated Andrade in a tense. Final.
“I did everything I could,” Lee said. “I went out there and told myself not to put pressure on myself because I didn’t want to think about the previous Olympics.”
There was a lot more to think about. The stands were full – unlike in Tokyo. Her family was here too. Unlike Tokyo. And there is a joy in her playing the sport that she wondered if she had lost sometimes along the way.
She also had Biles. And they trusted each other a lot during a final in which they both found themselves in positions they didn’t want before thriving in the end.
“Having Simone here today definitely helped me a lot, because we were both freaking out,” Lee said. “And it was nice to know that I wasn’t freaking out alone.”
Ultimately there was no need. Graba often refers to Lee as a “fighter.” That resilience – mental and physical – showed in a medal that is not the same color as the one she won in Japan, but, in some ways, no less significant.
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