Gymnast Suni Lee Reflects on Navigating Paris Olympics With Kidney Disease and What the Future Holds

Suni Lee captivated the world’s attention last summer at the Olympic Games in Paris as an unstoppable gymnast, who, alongside her teammates, clinched the gold medal in the all-around competition.

“We wanted to come back from Tokyo 2020 and it wasn’t like we were just redeeming ourselves in the team final, but we wanted to redeem ourselves in so many other ways,” the gymnast told Travel + Leisure recently. “There was just so much that we felt like we didn’t get to do last time that we wanted to do this time, and that’s exactly what we did.”

The 21-year-old also won two bronze medals for the individual all-around and uneven bars at the Paris Games (she won gold, silver and bronze medals at the Tokyo games), which was, of course, a highlight of the whole experience.

“Getting that medal and just taking it all in in the moment was the most amazing feeling ever. And it’s something that I’m never gonna forget,” she said.

Lee’s journey to the 2024 Olympics, however, was anything but simple, as she was diagnosed in with not one but two forms of kidney disease the year prior.

While Lee hasn’t disclosed specifics of her conditions, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digest and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), kidney disease encompasses a variety of conditions including diabetes and lupus nephritis. Symptoms for kidney conditions vary but can include edema, fatigue, muscle cramps, headaches and nausea.

Following her diagnosis, Lee announced she would be putting her NCAA gymnastics career at Auburn University on hold for six months. At that point in time, her participation in the Paris 2024 Olympics was uncertain as her day-to-day life was impacted immediately as well as the way she travels for her job. But despite the barrage of symptoms she was dealing with, Lee pressed on and worked closely with her medical team to adjust her training program, continuing to compete while managing her health.

“It has been very stressful. Going to camps, traveling all the time, my schedule gets a little bit crazy,” she said. “But my healthcare team and I, we’ve just come up with such an amazing routine that’s been so easy to do while I’m traveling, or even when I’m not traveling, it’s just been really consistent. I think just having a great healthcare team and support system has been probably the best thing that could have came out of this.”

Though Lee’s journey has been tough, her resilience prevailed.

In an effort to help others facing similar struggles — one in seven adults in the U.S. have chronic kidney disease — Lee has partnered with the American Kidney Fund (AKF) as part of the organization’s “Know Your Kidneys” initiative.

Lee and LaVarne A. Burton, President and CEO of AKF, have been educating people on the essentials of kidney health as well as sharing resources for those seeking a diagnosis.

“I know firsthand that kidney disease can happen at any age, and sometimes the cause of your disease isn’t clear-cut,” Lee said. “But I want to encourage others to be informed about their kidney health and self-advocate for a treatment plan that can allow them to live their best life.”

And she’s certainly following her own advice. The fashion enthusiast just moved to New York where she is pursuing a variety of projects while contemplating the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“It’s been an adjustment — being a Minnesota girl from the suburbs. But I’ve just been really trying to live my life and be without gymnastics. LA isn’t out of the picture, but it’s definitely not something that I’m thinking about right now,” she said. “I want to take a break and let my mind heal, let my body heal, and just try to enjoy every single moment and have fun. I’m really into the fashion stuff right now, so it’s been really fun trying to learn more about that and be more engaged in something that’s not gymnastics. I just want to take it day by day and see where it takes me.”