Topline
American Olympic gold medalist Sunisa “Suni” Lee on Tuesday said she’s returning to gymnastics roughly two years ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, joining former teammate Jade Carey, previously retired collegiate gymnast Katelyn Ohashi and potentially Simone Biles in taking another run at the podium.
Key Facts
Lee, who won three Olympic medals at each the Tokyo and Paris games, on Tuesday posted a video on Instagram with the caption, “I’m back.”
The video was a montage of Lee’s recent training sessions and clips from older competitions with a voice overlay: “I know what I’m capable of and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there,” she said.
Lee’s announcement comes three months after Jade Carey, who also competed in Tokyo and Paris, said she’d be staging a 2028 Olympic comeback and returned to competition with two gold medals at the American Classic in late June.
College gymnast Katelyn Ohashi shocked the gymnastics world several weeks ago by announcing she, too, would be returning to the sport ahead of the Los Angeles games and competed against Carey at the American Classic in her first elite-level competition in more than a decade (she won a bronze medal on the balance beam).
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“I’m pretty much a senior citizen,” Ohashi, 29, said of her comeback.
SURPRISING FACT
Ohashi was one of the last gymnasts to beat Biles in an all-around competition. She defeated Biles at the 2013 American Cup, when they were both 15 years old, but soon after suffered a series of back and shoulder injuries that ultimately saw her transition away from elite competition and into collegiate gymnastics. Ohashi’s tenure at the University of California, Los Angeles built her a following of dedicated fans and her 2019 floor routine at the NCAA gymnastics championships, a perfect 10, has been viewed more than 250 million times online.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW
Who else may return. Eagle-eyed fans of the sport are still waiting on an official announcement from Biles, the most decorated American Olympic gymnast in history, as to whether or not she will try to compete at the 2028 games. Biles, who will be 31 for the Los Angeles games, in May said there’s a 50% chance she’ll try to compete in 2028. Jordan Chiles, who competed with Biles in 2020 and 2024, has also kept the door open for a return.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
The official roster for the team will be revealed on June 19, 2028 after two days of competition at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Lee, Carey and 2024 alternate Hezly Rivera are considered the front-runners. Biles and Chiles would be strong competitors if they return, and Skye Blakely, a seasoned elite, is also aiming for LA 2028.
Key background
The U.S. women’s gymnastics team has been one the most celebrated Olympic teams in modern American sports for the last decade. The 2016 Rio team of Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian–known as the “Final Five”—won team gold and Biles emerged as a breakout star. She was the only member of the team to return for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics and, together with Lee, Chiles and McCallum, the U.S. won silver. Carey qualified as an individual competitor and won gold on floor exercise after Biles withdrew from several events because of the “twisties,” a mental block that causes an athlete to lose their spatial awareness while airborne. Biles returned to Paris in 2024 after a two-year break and the team—Biles, Lee, Carey and Chiles—won gold again.