Suni Lee’s Battle With a Rare Kidney Disease That Nearly Ended Her Gymnastics Career
Aug 4, 2024; Paris, France; Sunisa Lee of the United States celebrates with coach Jess Graba after winning bronze on the uneven bars on the second day of gymnastics event finals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Bercy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 4, 2024; Paris, France; Sunisa Lee of the United States celebrates with coach Jess Graba after winning bronze on the uneven bars on the second day of gymnastics event finals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Bercy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
In a sport defined by physicality, Olympic medalist Suni Lee rose above the parameters while solidifying her name in the world of gymnastics.
It’s not just the fact that the gymnast has 6 Olympic and 3 World Championship medals under her name. But she did all of these while having two incurable kidney diseases, which were diagnosed in 2023.
“My doctor was telling me he didn’t think I’d be able to do gymnastics ever again,” Lee admitted at the Team USA Media Summit in April 2024. Later, in a July 2024 interview with ELLE, she stated, “(it was) the hardest couple of months… I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it.”
Aug 4, 2024; Paris, France; Sunisa Lee of the United States reacts after winning the bronze medal on uneven bars on the second day of gymnastics event finals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Bercy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 4, 2024; Paris, France; Sunisa Lee of the United States reacts after winning the bronze medal on uneven bars on the second day of gymnastics event finals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Bercy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
However, battling health adversities and the mental pressures of career uncertainty, Lee managed to make a run to the 2024 Paris Olympics. And a testament to her resilience, she clinched a gold and two bronzes.
"When everything came crashing down, I also felt my greatest surge of determination," she wrote in her essay, published in Women's Health in March 2025. "I saw the challenge laid out before me, and I faced it head-on. I thought to myself, Just watch."
But while she championed the battle that lay ahead of her, the role of her coaches also played a big part in Lee’s victorious return.
Suni Lee Revealed How Her Coaches Helped Her
There were self-doubts, physical limitations and failures, given the severity of her disease. But with the help of others around her, especially her coaches, Lee succeeded in doing what she loved to do, once again.
“I had to relearn everything, and my coaches had to relearn how to coach me. But we figured it out together,” she stated. “Once I had those people around me who lifted me up and supported me and just made sure that I was good, I knew that this is something that I wanted.”
This wasn’t just about returning to the sport and winning medals. With her comeback, Suni Lee inspired a whole generation of gymnasts to never let life’s setbacks affect their dreams.
With that being said, do you find Suni Lee’s story inspiring? Let us know in the comments.
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Written by
Deblina Roy
Edited by
Kaamna Dwivedi