Olympic gymnastics all-around champion Suni Lee revealed that at the height of dealing with a kidney disease last year, she questioned whether a return to top form was even possible.
“My motivation started to fall,” Lee said this week at the Team USA media summit.
“I could not bend my legs the slightest, I couldn’t squeeze my fingers, my face was swollen,” Lee said, noting she retained 45 pounds in water weight. “I looked like a completely different person. It was very, very miserable.”
She said she lived with constant pain, nausea and lightheadedness.
“We have it under control now,” she said. “We know what to do and the right medication to take.”
The then-18-year-old Lee was thrust into the spotlight at the Tokyo Games when teammate and reigning Olympic champion Simone Biles unexpectedly dropped out in the middle of the team final, citing her mental health. Lee hadn’t been in the original lineup for the U.S. team’s floor exercise but scored a team-best 13.666 to help the Americans claim a silver medal.
Activist says US congressman knocked cellphone from her hand as she asked about Israel
North Carolina boy, 18, wins $2million on one of the first scratch
Iranian professor makes chilling prediction about American college students after pro
Pictured: Suspected burglar, 19, who was shot dead during alleged break
Photography exhibition by Italian journalist opens in Xi'an
Send us Patriots: Ukraine's battered energy plants seek air defenses against Russian attacks
Tiger Woods gets special exemption to US Open at Pinehurst
Beijing gears up for Strawberry Music Festival during May Day holiday
Senators hire Travis Green as coach. Green leaves the Devils after serving in an interim role
Singer shows the world his talent at UN