That’s because the 21-year-old didn’t expect to win any medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics women’s gymnastics all-around final.
So when the Team USA athlete’s floor routine score flipped her from fourth to third place in the Aug. 1 individual competition to earn the bronze, she was stunned.
“It felt absolutely amazing. I was in shock,” Lee told Today Aug. 2. “I didn’t think that I was going to be able to podium.”
The gymnast continued, “Coming in my floor routine, I literally told myself, we’re just going to end it off the right way and I’m just going to do everything that I can to just finish it off, because being here is an accomplishment itself.”
“I honestly started getting a little bit emotional,” Lee recalled about her realization that she had won bronze, which marked her fifth Olympic medal. “I almost started tearing up. I was just like so happy.”
Lee, who won a gold medal at the individual all-around event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, made it to Paris amid a health battle. Last year, she was diagnosed with two kidney diseases, which caused her symptoms such as water retention, which made her gain more than 40 pounds.
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Lee has reflected on her health journey several times since qualifying for the 2024 Olympics.
“From being told that I would never be able to do gymnastics again,” she wrote on Instagram Aug. 2. “to winning my 5th olympic medal!!”
The Olympian continued, “This medal goes deeper than gymnastics. I can’t even begin to express how much my health has taken away from me & the strength it has taught me, so to be here is the greatest achievement of all. grateful for the opportunity to be able to represent team USA at my second Olympic games! Thank you for all the support.”
(E!, Today and NBC News are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
Read on to see candid moments from the 2024 Olympics…