Is 'The Lee' incoming? Olympic champ Sunisa Lee shares never before performed gymnastics element
If the Tokyo gold medallist can successfully perform the element in international competition, it would be named in her honour
Artistic Gymnastics
Sunisa Lee has already added to the history books.
Now, she's looking to make some additions to the rule books: gymnastics' Code of Points, to be exact.
The 20-year-old stunned the gymnastics world Tuesday (23 January) as she posted training footage of herself performing a full-twisting, laidout Jaeger on the uneven bars, an element never before performed.
If Lee is able to successfully compete the element at a major international event, including this summer's Paris Olympic Games, it would then be known as 'The Lee.'
As she deals with a kidney-related health issue, Lee has only competed in elite gymnastics twice since becoming the first Hmong American to win Olympic gold three years ago at the Tokyo 2020 Games, held in the summer of 2021, when she took the women's all-around crown.
Lee told Olympics.com early last summer that the health issues had been making consistent training difficult.
“I have been in and out of the gym just because there’s just so many doctor’s appointments, and I’m taking a lot of medication, so it kind of varies every day,” Lee told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview. “I could wake up very swollen some days and not be able to put my fingers inside my grips. It’s really difficult to kind of work through, but on the days that I can do stuff and I am feeling good, I try and take advantage of that and just get everything done."
But in recent weeks, the three-time Olympic medallist has begun sharing more and more training footage on her social media including a new balance beam mount sequence and a one-and-a-half pirouette on the uneven bars.
At a media event in November, Lee told USA Today she had made progress managing her health issues.
“We’re still working on trying to figure out how to balance all of it because I do have good days and bad days,’’ she said. “But with the good days I just take advantage of what I’m able to do, and on the bad days I just do basics and try and stay as safe as possible.’’
Lee has yet to declare her intended competitions for 2024, but the U.S. elite gymnastics season begins in late February with the Winter Cup in Louisville, Kentucky.