Suni Lee. Elsa/Getty Images
Auburn University hired security to protect Olympic gymnast Suni Lee after she made history at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I couldn’t trust anybody because it was always like people wanted things from me,” Lee, 21, recalled in a profile for The New York Times, published on Monday, July 29, one day after Lee and Simone Biles secured their spots in the women’s all-around final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. “I just started to feel like I couldn’t talk to anybody about anything.”
The athlete added: “I had to learn to be alone.”
After she became the first Asian American to win gold in the all-around category during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Lee returned to Auburn. The athlete didn’t stay long before moving to Los Angeles for the opportunity to compete on Dancing With the Stars in 2021. (She finished in fifth place alongside partner Sasha Farber.)
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Following DWTS, Lee went back to Auburn where she spent two years on the school’s gymnastics team — which created its own set of issues.
“If I didn’t have Jess and Ali in my life, I would die,” Lee told NYT, referring to coaches Jess Graba and Alison Lim. When at Auburn, Lee was coached by Jess’ twin brother, Jeff Graba.
Jeff referred to the public’s sudden interest in the Auburn gymnastics program as a “circus” during the same NYT interview.
“Everything was coming at her at 100 miles an hour and I think she handled it better than most 18 year olds handle normal issues,” he continued. “But hers were not normal issues.”
Lee received notes from fans that were slipped under the door to her room and students would ask for photos all hours of the day. Her coaches also recalled one man who followed Lee to various training gyms. (The interview also revealed that one of Lee’s stalkers was a coach who “tried to track her down in at least three states.”)
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“That man was causing real problems,” Jess recalled, which is what led to Auburn hiring security for Lee. (The newspaper noted that the same security guard who protected quarterback Cam Newton was tapped to help Lee.) Eventually, Lee took all her classes through the school online.
When Lee was diagnosed with two kidney diseases — the names of which she didn’t reveal to NYT — her life changed.
“It wasn’t something like I can just take a pill and be better; I was going to have to deal with this my whole life,” she told the newspaper. “I was just so afraid because I already announced that I was coming back for the Olympics, and I was like, well, I can’t pull out now. But then I had to switch my thinking. Why am I doing it for everyone else? If I’m doing that, then I’m doing it for the wrong reasons.”
This past January, Lee was cleared by her doctors to train for the Paris Olympics.
“I didn’t have to be the perfect Suni that everyone was staring at; I could just go there and be plain old Suni again,” she said. “And whoa, was it a relief.”