Two-time Olympic champion Suni Lee honoured as one of Glamour’s women of the year 2024
The 21-year-old joins fellow Olympic champions Serena Williams and Allyson Felix on the list
Artistic Gymnastics
Six-time Olympic gymnastics medallist Suni Lee is one of eight honourees for Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year for 2024.
Lee is joined by fellow Olympic champions Serena Williams and Allyson Felix. Actresses Sydney Sweeney and Pamela Anderson are also on the list.
In 2024, Lee completed a somewhat improbable comeback to win three medals at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, after overcoming two kidney-related health issues that, just a year ago, seemed to make a return trip to the Olympic Games unthinkable.
“Not many people get to come here twice and compete with the best of the best,” Lee, the Tokyo 2020 all-around winner, told Glamour. “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.”
She has six in total, tying her for third-most by U.S. female gymnasts with Aly Raisman, behind only Simone Biles and Shannon Miller. She and Biles are the only two Americans to ever win multiple Olympic all-around medals.
Lee, 21, tells Glamour she’s ready for her next chapter: life in NYC, where she hopes to expand her horizons beyond her sport.
“It’s always just been gymnastics, gymnastics, gymnastics, whereas right now it’s like, Who is Suni outside gymnastics?” said Lee.
She’s not ready to think about continuing in her sport, she says, and if LA 2028 is on the cards, Lee wants it to be a low-key affair.
“I don’t think I would want there to be a huge story,” said Lee. “I’d just want to work my butt off in the gym every single day and get everything that I deserved at the Olympics. You know? It shouldn’t be deeper than that.
“I don’t need any more adversity. I don’t want people to feel bad for me. I just want to go into the gym and work hard.”