Olympic gymnast Sunisa Lee revealed that her health continues to improve after suffering from a kidney illness earlier this year that caused her to gain 45 pounds.
“I couldn’t fit into any of my clothes,’” said Lee to USA Today Sports. “My eyes were swollen shut. It was just so scary.”
In April, Lee announced she was ending her gymnastics career at Auburn to prepare for the 2024 Games. But it turns out that she was also leaving to focus on her ailing health.
“I haven’t had a really bad day in a while,” Lee said. “But in the beginning it was like I was waking up swollen. My fingers were so swollen they wouldn’t fit into my grips and I couldn’t hold on to the bar.
“My whole body was swollen because I was retaining water, so I couldn’t do a flip. … So it was really different and I had to learn how to work through it.”
For any gymnast to experience that type of dramatic experience is scary. Fortunately, the 20-year-old’s health has returned and she’s making sure she’s taking care of herself, which includes a very specific diet to address the kidney illness.
“We’re still working on trying to figure out how to balance all of it because I do have good days and bad days,” Suni 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 returned to competition in August and took bronze in the beam at the U.S. Championships.
And while she was invited to attend the team selection camp for the world championships, she declined to focus on her health as she aims to compete at the 2024 Paris Games.
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