Suni Lee back in the gym: Olympic champion opens path toward Los Angeles 2028
Suni Lee has confirmed her return to gymnastics and resumed training, opening the possibility of a third Olympic appearance two years before the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The American gymnast, the Olympic all-around champion from Tokyo and a six-time Olympic medalist, posted a video on July 14, 2026, accompanied by the brief message "I’m back". In the video, she said that she knows what she is capable of, that she is prepared to do what is necessary to return to the highest level, and that she is back in the gym. She concluded the post by announcing that this was about something bigger than an ordinary comeback, but she did not present a detailed competition schedule or confirm the date of her first appearance. Her announcement therefore marks the beginning of a new sporting cycle, rather than a guarantee that she will already secure a place on the United States team for the 2028 Games.
The comeback is attracting particular attention because it follows a period in which Lee was simultaneously experiencing the peak of her career and serious health difficulties. Kidney problems interrupted her collegiate season in 2023, made everyday functioning more difficult, and called into question whether she could continue competing at the highest level. Despite this, she returned strongly enough to win three medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. After Paris, she took a break, and she has now announced that her health condition is under control and that she can once again build a program with Los Angeles in her sights.
Announcement timed exactly two years before the start of the Games
Lee announced her comeback on July 14, 2026, exactly two years before the planned opening of the LA28 Olympic Games. The organizing committee states that the Games will be held from July 14 to 30, 2028, and Los Angeles will become the third city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games following the previous editions in 1932 and 1984. Artistic gymnastics is included in the official program, giving Lee enough time to increase her training load gradually, rebuild her competition routines, and return to the American qualification system. Two years can be a long period in elite gymnastics, but also a very short deadline when medical monitoring, the development of routine difficulty, performance stability, and the battle for a place on one of the world’s most competitive teams are taken into account.
The announcement itself was carefully shaped as a statement of intent rather than the presentation of a completed plan. The video alternates between scenes from the gym and clips from her career to date, while Lee speaks about her own capabilities and willingness to work. In doing so, she made it clear that she is not returning merely to recreational training, but to a process that could result in a bid for LA28. Nevertheless, as of July 2026, she had not officially announced which competitions she would enter first, which apparatuses she intended to prepare, or whether she would immediately build a full all-around program. Those details will show whether she is working toward a comeback in all four disciplines or whether, at a certain stage, she will place greater emphasis on the apparatuses on which she has traditionally been strongest.
A feeling that she has not yet shown her full potential
The day after the announcement, Lee further explained at the ESPY Awards in New York why she was entering another demanding Olympic cycle. In an interview with People magazine, she said that she felt she "still had so much more in her" and that, because of everything she had been going through with her health, she did not have a full opportunity to show her maximum potential at the previous Games. She said that this time she wanted to give herself precisely that opportunity, together with the people who helped her during her previous comeback. Her words suggest that the motivation is not merely to win another medal, but also a desire to go through preparations with greater continuity than she had before Paris. Lee also said that she felt relieved to be able to speak openly about the comeback after a long period during which she kept the plan out of the public eye.
Such an approach is understandable in the context of her path to Paris. Before the 2024 Games, the main question was not whether she could build on her success from Tokyo, but whether she would be able to return to full training at all and endure the multi-day Olympic program. She arrived in Paris after a series of changes, adjustments, and medical monitoring, and she often described her own expectations more cautiously than she had before her illness. After winning three medals, she called that appearance a kind of "redemption tour", while also saying that the illness had changed her both as a person and as an athlete. Her return for 2028 can therefore be viewed as an attempt to develop a new version of herself without the constant feeling that she is merely making up for lost time.
Kidney disease interrupted her collegiate career
Her health problems first became clearer to the public in the spring of 2023, when Lee announced that she could not continue competing for Auburn University because of kidney-related issues. She missed the final part of the collegiate season and did not receive medical clearance to compete, bringing her NCAA career to an earlier end than she had planned. She later said that she had been diagnosed with two rare kidney diseases and that she experienced severe swelling, pain, nausea, and major changes in body weight due to fluid retention. Ahead of her 2024 comeback, the Associated Press reported that during the most difficult period she retained approximately 20 kilograms of fluid, which seriously limited her movement and training.
Lee has never publicly disclosed all the details of her diagnoses, so it would not be justified to speculate about the exact medical circumstances or long-term prognosis. It is known that, with treatment, dietary adjustments, and supervision from her medical team, she managed to stabilize her condition sufficiently to return to elite sport. In the new cycle, she emphasizes that the illness is under control, but that does not mean the health risk has disappeared or that she will be able to increase her workload without restrictions. In elite gymnastics, a comeback does not involve technical readiness alone: recovery after training, tolerance of travel, competition stress, and the ability to maintain form throughout an entire season must also be monitored. For Lee, medical stability will therefore be just as important as the difficulty of the elements she is able to perform.
Her health story has already changed expectations once about what can be achieved within a short period. After her collegiate season was interrupted, she returned to elite competitions in 2023, and throughout 2024 she gradually raised the level of her performances all the way to the United States Olympic Trials. The process was not linear: there were withdrawals from competitions, program adjustments, and moments when it was unclear whether she would be able to put together a full all-around program. For that reason, the new announcement does not mean that the stage of cautiously rebuilding form can be skipped. The experience from the previous cycle shows that decisions about competitions will probably depend on how her body responds to the increasing workload.
Paris 2024 turned the comeback into one of the Games’ biggest stories
The results from Paris confirm why Lee is still considered a serious candidate for the United States team even after a break. In the team final, she helped the United States win gold, with her performance on the balance beam being particularly important. She then won bronze in the individual all-around with a total score of 56.465, behind Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade. USA Gymnastics noted that this gave her an all-around medal at a second consecutive Games, following her gold in Tokyo. Several days later, she also took bronze on the uneven bars with a score of 14.800, completing her Paris appearance with one gold and two bronze medals.
After Paris, her Olympic total rose to six medals. In Tokyo, she won all-around gold, team silver, and uneven bars bronze, while in Paris she added team gold and bronze medals in the all-around and on the uneven bars. According to Team USA, she became the first American woman to win Olympic medals on the uneven bars at two different Games. Such a combination of team reliability, all-around value, and the ability to reach an individual apparatus final is extremely important when assembling an Olympic team. However, the results from 2024 will not in themselves provide an advantage in 2028; the American gymnasts will once again have to prove their form during the current qualification cycle.
In Paris, Lee also demonstrated an ability to adapt. Her program was not simply an attempt to copy her routine from Tokyo, but a response to a different physical situation, modified rules, and the need to build form within a short period. On the uneven bars, she remained among the best in the world, while on the balance beam and in the all-around she provided valuable scores for the team. At the same time, she finished the balance beam final without a medal, leaving room for a sporting goal that is not directly connected only with defending her previous achievements. Should she choose a full program for Los Angeles, the combination of the uneven bars, balance beam, and a stable all-around performance could once again form the foundation of her bid.
The road to LA28 remains long and without a guaranteed outcome
The comeback announcement does not automatically mean an appearance at the Olympic Games. Lee must first return to a competitive rhythm, meet the criteria of USA Gymnastics, and earn a place on the team through a system that will include national competitions and the final team selection. The details of the United States selection procedure for 2028 may change as the Games approach, so it would be premature to claim that her path has already been determined. Competition in United States women’s gymnastics is traditionally intense, and by the summer of 2028 a new generation of senior gymnasts will also have emerged who were not yet eligible to compete during the previous Olympic cycle.
One of the key challenges for Lee will be finding a balance between difficulty and reliability. The modern scoring system rewards complexity, but high starting values do not have their full effect when they are accompanied by falls, broken connections, or unstable landings. A gymnast returning after a lengthy break must simultaneously rebuild her basic conditioning, feel for the apparatus, automatic execution of elements, and ability to perform under pressure. An additional burden comes from the fact that Los Angeles would be a home Games for American athletes, accompanied by considerably greater interest from the media and sponsors. Lee already has experience with that kind of attention following her unexpected all-around gold in Tokyo, but she later also spoke openly about the pressure that comes with the role of Olympic champion.
At the same time, a home Games offers a source of motivation that elite athletes rarely receive. In 2028, Los Angeles will host most of the Olympic program in Southern California, and artistic gymnastics will be one of the central sports during the first part of the competition. For Lee, who will be 25 years old during the Games, an appearance would represent a third consecutive Olympic edition and an opportunity to extend her career beyond the timeframes once considered usual for women’s gymnastics. An increasing number of elite gymnasts are continuing their careers into their mid-twenties and beyond, thanks to changes in training methods, a greater emphasis on recovery, and greater control by athletes over their own programs. Lee’s attempt could further confirm that trend, but only if her health and results match her ambition.
The comeback will also be followed by a documentary project
On the same day that Lee announced her return, Fanatics Studios and its partners announced a documentary project expected to follow her life outside the gym and her journey back toward competitive gymnastics. According to the producers’ announcement, the project will cover the period after Paris, her health challenges, and the decisions that preceded the new attempt. The documentary thus becomes part of the wider comeback story, but for now it cannot replace what will happen at official competitions. In the initial announcement, the producers did not provide a final release date, so the scope of the project and the timing of its premiere will depend on the development of her sporting journey.
Such media coverage can help the public understand how complex a comeback after chronic illness can be, but it also increases the attention surrounding every training session and result. Lee will have to build her form in an environment in which even small steps will be interpreted as signals of her Olympic prospects. For that reason, it is important to distinguish the powerful symbolism of the announcement from an objective assessment of readiness. At present, it has been confirmed that she is back in the gym, that she is openly targeting the next Olympic cycle, and that she believes her story is not over. However, it has not been confirmed when she will return to the competition floor or to what extent she will perform in the all-around.
Her career to date demonstrates why the announcement nevertheless cannot be reduced to a promotional moment. Lee has already won the Olympic all-around title, returned after an illness that threatened her career, and then won three medals at her second Games. At the same time, the experience of 2023 and 2024 is a reminder that progress will not be measured only by attractive elements, but also by the continuity of her health. The next steps will become visible when she announces her coaching and competition plan, appears again on an official start list, and shows how far the program can be developed without compromising her recovery. Two years before Los Angeles, Suni Lee’s return is therefore major news for gymnastics, but also the beginning of a process whose true scope will still have to be confirmed on the apparatuses.
Sources:
- Olympics.com – report on Suni Lee’s comeback announcement and her messages in the video (link)
- People – interview with Suni Lee at the 2026 ESPY Awards about her reasons for returning and her feeling that she had not reached her full potential (link)
- Associated Press – information about her health difficulties, treatment, and comeback after kidney disease (link)
- USA Gymnastics – official results of Suni Lee’s all-around bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (link)
- USA Gymnastics – official results of her uneven bars bronze medal and an overview of her sixth Olympic medal (link)
- LA28 – official dates of the 2028 Olympic Games and confirmation of artistic gymnastics in the program (link)
- Fanatics Studios / GlobeNewswire – announcement of the documentary project about Suni Lee’s comeback (link)