The comeback has barely begun, but Suni Lee is already hearing the noise that comes with it. Some have questioned why the Olympic champion returned, suggesting money or relevance might be driving her. Lee, however, has a much simpler answer: getting back to the Olympics requires work, and she is willing to put it in.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Lee made her return to the gym in July, nearly two years after her last Olympic appearance in Paris. The six-time Olympic medalist announced her plans with a simple “I’m back,” but the decision immediately raised questions about whether she could make another run at LA28.
Sitting down with coaches Jess and Jeff Graba on the Brothers Graba YouTube Channel, Lee addressed some of those doubts herself. The Olympic champion pushed back against the idea that she had returned simply for financial reasons or to remain in the spotlight. “People are saying it’s just a money thing; she’s just coming to stay relevant,” Lee said. “People don’t understand that you can’t just come in and automatically make the Olympic team. It takes work to get there.”
For Lee, this is not an easy route back. She knows exactly what an Olympic comeback demands because she has already lived through one.
After winning the all-around title at Tokyo 2020, Lee spent time competing for Auburn before a kidney-related health issue forced her to step away. The following two years brought another difficult stretch as she worked to regain her health and rebuild her gymnastics.
Yet she made it back to Paris.
Lee helped the United States win team gold before adding bronze medals in the all-around and uneven bars. That performance became another reminder that her career could not be defined by the setbacks that interrupted it.
Now, she is attempting something even more demanding: another Olympic cycle.
“I just want to do it I guess like our way,” Lee said during the conversation with her coaches.
But if Lee wants to silence those doubts, the answer won’t come through words. It will come through the work she is already putting in inside the gym.
Suni Lee’s skills are coming back as her LA28 comeback takes shape
The early signs from the gym have given Lee plenty to build on. By August, she revealed that she had regained nearly all of her skills on two apparatuses that have long been central to her gymnastics. “I pretty much have almost all of my skills back on bars and beam,” Lee said in a TikTok training update.
The footage showed her working through difficult combinations on the uneven bars, including a Pak salto into a Maloney and attempts at connections she had never competed previously. On beam, she also shared progress with aerial and layout series.
The picture looks different on floor and vault. Lee said she was still using the TumblTrak for floor work, while she planned to wait before returning to vault until she rebuilt more strength.
“Vault, I am not attempting for a little bit until I get stronger,” she explained.
Strength training has become another piece of the comeback puzzle. Lee admitted it is not her favorite part of the process, but this time she has her sister joining her.
“One thing about me is I hate strength,” Lee joked, “so I’m just happy that I have somebody else doing it with me.”
Her coaches know there will be difficult days ahead. Jeff Graba, who has worked with Lee since she was a child, described the current phase as “two steps forward, four steps back.”
The pressure will only grow as the comeback progresses. Graba admitted he already finds himself examining every detail of their preparation because the margin for error becomes smaller with every step toward an Olympic selection.
“You can’t afford a mistake now,” he said. “So now the stress begins.”
Still, there is something different about having Lee back in the gym. “It feels better with her in the gym,” Graba added.
That may be the simplest answer to all the outside noise. Lee has not promised an Olympic spot, a medal, or even a perfect comeback. She has simply returned to work.
And with LA28 still ahead, the next chapter will be decided not by the comments surrounding her comeback, but by what she does inside the gym.