Suni Lee Details Having Mental Breakdown Night Before 2024 Olympic Team Finals

Hours before Suni Lee helped lead the U.S. gymnastics team to victory at the 2024 Olympics, she was in a state of panic.

The 21-year-old suffered a mental breakdown the night before she, Simone Biles, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles competed in the women’s gymnastics team all-around final July 30, where they and teammate Hezly Rivera ultimately took home gold.

And for Lee, it was her teammates who ultimately helped rally her, with Chiles summoning Biles to give their fellow returning champ a pep talk.

"You need to walk around like you’re the reigning Olympic champion, and you need to own it,’” Lee recalled of Biles’ words in an interview with Glamour published Oct. 3. "'You need to remind yourself that you’re good enough, and you are on this team for a reason.'"

Lee, who noted that she typically has a good cry before a competition, began her 2024 Olympic journey three years after winning her first Olympic gold medal—in the women's all-around gymnastics final, at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Per Glamour, she didn't think she deserved that honor, which came after Biles withdrew from the event—something many viewers repeated on social media.

At the 2024 Olympics, Lee went on to win bronze medals in the women's all-around gymnastics final—with Biles winning gold—and in the uneven bars event. But she fell in her last competition, the balance beam final, coming in sixth place.

"That wasn’t how I wanted to end my Olympics in Paris, and I was a little disappointed, but at the end of the day, I was super proud of myself because I made it to the Olympics," Lee said. "I didn’t even think that I was going to be here."

After all, Lee’s return to the mat at the Olympics came after a difficult health battles. In 2023, she was diagnosed with two kidney diseases, which caused her to gain more than 40 pounds from water retention and prompted her to take six months off training before returning to the gym this past January to compete for a place on the U.S. Olympic team.

“Nobody knows this, but the week before the Olympic trials," she said, "I had to get an infusion because I went into a relapse."

Now, after her 2024 Olympic journey, Lee is in a better place in her life.

"Not even just physically but mentally, to where I can accept everything that’s happened," the six-time Olympic medalist said. “Not many people get to come here twice and compete with the best of the best. I just felt absolutely amazing. And now I’ve learned to really take everything in, and I think that’s why I’m so happy with all of my medals."

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