“I Hated It”: Suni Lee Reveals She Wanted to Quit Gymnastics Post Tokyo Olympics Due a Heartbreaking Medical Condition

The Olympics are every athletes’ dream. That is what they aim for from the day they start training. But for athletes like Suni Lee, the Olympics has left a traumatic impact on their lives. Lee has time and again openly talked about the “toxic” culture of the Olympics and how it just demands more of you every time.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Suni has revealed how she suffers from”imposter syndrome”, something which is the aftereffect of the Tokyo Olympics. At the Tokyo Olympics, Suni Lee became the all-around champion.

Currently, she is participating in the NCAA, representing Auburn University. However, things haven’t been easy at all for the 21-year-old gymnast, who still hasn’t recovered from the pressure and stress of the Olympics.

Lee opens up about “imposter syndrome”

After the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Suni Lee decided to take a break and join college. She joined Auburn University. Soon, Lee joined the Auburn gymnastics team. Here, she excelled in almost everything. Therefore, she was the most obvious choice to lead the team at the NCAA.

“I Have A Family Here”: Suni Lee Admits NCAA Gymnastics is Better than Competing in The Olympics

At the NCAA, Suni Lee shone. She got perfect 10s in multiple routines and took her team to the very top. But the truth is, it was getting difficult for Suni to continue performing. She has opened up about having major anxiety issues and stress.

“When everybody expects you to be good for Auburn, it’s really hard for me just mentally, because I already put so much pressure on myself that when I have that extra pressure stress added on to it, I just kind of break,” she said.

When she won the medal in Tokyo, there were many comments questioning her ability. People questioned whether or not she deserved the medal. This led to Suni developing imposter syndrome.

“Like impostor syndrome,” she said. “That’s exactly what I have. And it’s very hard. I didn’t want to do gymnastics, I hated it.”

There were moments when Lee almost quit. It was her coach Jeff Graba who helped her stay motivated and concentrate on her performance.

Suni Lee just wishes people would treat her as human

In addition, Lee added that people view her as some kind of superhuman. They expect her to get the best score everywhere. But in reality, she is just human, and that’s not possible.

“I think it’s important because a lot of the times people forget that we’re human,” she said. “I think people just look at me as a famous person; they don’t actually look at me as a person and to kind of see that we can make mistakes, too.”

WATCH: Suni Lee Achieves a Record Even Gymnastics GOAT Simone Biles Hasn’t Touched

Regardless of all this, Suni Lee is still topping the charts at the NCAA. She is performing flips and jumps, scoring perfect 10s multiple times. This just goes on to show how strong the gymnast is.