War Suni: Auburn newcomer perseveres to achieve Olympic dream

AUBURN, Ala. – Sunisa Lee has yet to take her first class at Auburn, yet to compete in her first gymnastics meet or stick her first dismount, and still the Auburn Family has rallied behind her as one of their own heading into the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

Look no further than the Auburn Gymnastics account on Instagram.

WDE Suni!

WOOO GOO SUNI!!!!!

#WarDamnSuni

Yes!!! Can’t wait for this girl to shine!!

“It’s really exciting because I never thought I would have all the support from the Auburn Family,” Lee said. “It’s something that is so cool because I've always wanted to go to Auburn. And now that I'm finally going there in the fall, I'm just really excited because I know there's going to be a bunch of supporters at competitions."

Lee signed her NLI with Auburn in November. In June, seven months later, she made the U.S. Olympic Team by finishing second overall behind Simone Biles at U.S. Trials. She won both the uneven bars and beam competitions at the meet and secured one of the four team spots up for grabs.

As she stood with her Team USA teammates after the meet – there were six in all (two individual spots) – Lee didn’t know what to feel. She still doesn’t.

“I feel like it still hasn't even sunk in that I'm an Olympian,” she said. “It's just something that's so crazy to say because I've been working toward it for so long and it has been a dream and goal of mine, so to finally say I'm an Olympian feels amazing.”

At one point, it almost didn’t happen. 

In August 2019, just days before Senior Nationals, Lee’s father John fell from a ladder while helping a friend cut a tree branch. He broke his right wrist and several ribs and injured his spinal cord, paralyzing his body from the chest down. He encouraged his daughter to still go through with the meet, and so she did, finishing second behind Biles in the all-around and winning gold on the uneven bars.

A month later, Lee was a member of the U.S. team that won gold at the World Championships in Germany. Before that meet, she got another pep talk from her father – a tradition that has since become a mandatory part of her pre-meet routine at this point.

“He's been doing it for so long that if I had a competition and he doesn't give me one, I feel like it's just not going to be a good competition,” Lee said.

“He's definitely been a really big inspiration because whatever he's going through is definitely way worse than whatever I'm going through in the gym and all the hard days. That’s something that helps motivate me, too. He’s literally like my best friend, going to all my competitions with me. I really just want to make him proud and the rest of my family proud.”

Less than a year after her father's injury, adversity struck again with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were postponed, along with U.S. Trials. The gym where she spent all her time training was shut down. There were times where she thought about giving up. Was it still worth it to pursue this Olympic dream of hers?

Clearly it was, and as Lee stood there shortly after becoming an Olympian, it was more rewarding knowing what all she had been through and overcome.

“To be able to say that I pushed through all that – my dad's injury and just the whole pandemic – it’s something I'm super proud of,” Lee said. 

Since U.S Trials ended, Lee has become somewhat of a celebrity not just among Auburn fans but internationally. She’s appeared on the TODAY Show, been featured by ESPN, and her Instagram account has climbed above 235,000 followers. That number will only grow after the Tokyo Olympics.

Ironically, though, the allure of going to college was to get out of the spotlight. At Auburn, Lee can’t wait to get on campus and just be part of the team, part of the community.

“I think I'm kind of looking forward to just being somewhat normal, like a normal college athlete,” she said. “Because my whole life I've just been in the gym, and there's just been a lot of media. It’s been super crazy. So to kind of just have that – and I'm looking forward to it because my whole life has just been based around gymnastics – so to be on campus and to be kind of normal is something I’m looking forward to.”

It will be a short turnaround following the Olympics for Lee who will have about a week at home before she arrives at Auburn. Classes begin on August 16.

The hope is that she’ll be bringing a couple gold medals with her to the Plains.

“My goals in Tokyo are just to go out there and have fun, do what I normally do,” Lee said. “It’s obviously going to be very different than other Olympics because there's going to be no spectators, so I'm just going to try and make the best I can out of it.”

Though there might not be any spectators in person to watch Lee, the entire Auburn Family will be staying up late or waking up early to watch her from across the globe.