JUST IN: Suni Lee Becomes First American Woman to Win Two Medals in Uneven Bars at Paris Olympics while jokingly said in a speech that her neck is getting sore… SEE MORE

PARIS — In early 2023, Suni Lee couldn’t hold on to the bar or put on a pair of grips because her body was so swollen. A year and a half later, she secured a bronze medal in uneven bars at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to become the first American woman to win two medals in the event.

Lee’s score of 14.800 solidified her spot on the podium for a second straight Games, finishing behind Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour and China’s Qiu Qiyuan.

Lee’s fourth-place ranking before Monday’s balance beam final will present one more opportunity to add to her medal collection. A seventh medal would tie Lee with Shannon Miller for the second-highest total by an American gymnast, behind Simone Biles.

Lee has been open about dealing with two rare kidney diseases while trying to make it back to the highest stage. At the age of 21, the 2020 Olympic champion shared that last year there were times she couldn’t get out of bed, bend her legs or even squeeze her fingers. On Sunday, she stood on the podium of the bars final with a medal around her neck, matching her finish three years ago at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

“It’s so much more meaningful,” said Lee. “I told myself I was coming back to redeem myself on bars and that’s what I did this time.”

But returning to the Olympics, let alone the bar final, was not something Lee always believed could happen. Between the expectations placed on her after winning the all-around gold in Tokyo and her kidney diagnoses, she seriously contemplated leaving the sport, a consideration her coach, Jess Graba, understood.

“She had everything to lose coming back,” said Graba. “There was nothing for her to prove, except to herself … I want her to feel proud.”

Lee’s comeback continues to inspire audiences, and her success in Paris has generated even more support. Sunday’s third-place finish marked Lee’s third medal of the Games after helping Team USA earn gold in the team final and earning herself a bronze in the all-around.

“The past couple of days, I’ve been flooded with messages from people saying they have chronic illnesses and other things they have had to deal with,” said Lee. “It’s a really good feeling knowing that I can inspire others. Especially since I spent a lot of months being at my lowest, so having people that were there with me and have supported me along the way is such a good feeling. It’s such an important message to just lean on your people when you need them because you never know what can happen.”

Lee’s sixth overall Olympic medal was earned by battling a loaded bar final featuring multiple world and Olympic medalists including Nemour, Qiu and Belgium’s Nina Derwael, the gold medalist from Tokyo.

Lee ranked third after qualifications and has been consistent on bars during the past several days of competition. Nemour and Qiu put up high levels of difficulty in qualifying. Qiu’s difficulty score was four tenths higher than Lee’s, while Nemour’s was seven tenths.

“It’s probably the best bar final I’ve seen in I don’t even know how long,” said Graba. “Everyone out there was good. It was just awesome. Even if you fell, you were doing it because you were going for everything, and that was incredible.”

Lee and Graba toyed with the idea of increasing her difficulty for Sunday’s final, as she’s been training higher level skills both back home and in Paris. Ultimately, the two decided that Lee’s ability to produce a clean and consistent routine would be her best shot to make the podium against such a deep field.

As the final gymnast to go, Lee knew what scores ranked in medal positions before she started her routine. Unlike some competitors in the final spot, who choose to avoid watching other routines and scores before they go, Lee could be seen jumping up and down as she cheered on each gymnast throughout their routine. She greeted each one with hugs and congratulations once they returned to the floor.

“Normally, I would go the other route,” said Lee of watching the gymnasts before her. “But this time, I was not going to miss these routines because they’re so good. I wanted to watch because it’s just not the same when you watch it on the replay. And I was just so happy because all of those girls deserve it.”

With just Lee left to go, Nemour ranked first with a 15.700, with Qiu second with 15.500 and Derwael rounding out the top three with 14.800. Under pressure, Lee executed an excellent routine that mirrored the other three in Paris. As soon as she landed, Lee had a feeling that she had done enough to earn herself a spot on the podium.

“I did think that it was enough,” said Lee. “I told myself that if I just did the routine that I’ve been doing the past couple days, I would be fine.”

Hanna Barton is writing for Team USA as a graduate student in the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University Indianapolis.