Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee is ending her college gymnastics career and returning to professional gymnastics for a chance to join the U.S. women’s team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“Today, I’m sharing a decision that has weighed on me for a really long time,” Lee began in a Tuesday Instagram post announcing the change. “As an athlete that has competed at the highest level, on the world’s biggest stage, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience that once-in-a-lifetime feeling and the indescribable emotion when a gold medal is draped around your neck. But I don’t want it to just be once in a lifetime.”

Lee will finish out this season on the Auburn University gymnastics team before turning her attention to 2024.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the pandemic, Lee won three medals, including gold in the individual all-around and a bronze medal on the uneven bars, as well as a team silver medal.

Lee brought major star power to Auburn gymnastics as the first individual all-around Olympic champion to compete in college. Last month, she was named Individual Sportswoman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation.

She won gold on the balance beam at the NCAA championships last season and took silver in the individual all-around to Florida’s Trinity Thomas.

“Competing for Auburn University has always been a dream of mine and the dream that rose in tandem with going to the Olympics,” Lee continued in her video announcement. “I’ve learned so much about myself, true teamwork and about community during my time here. With that being said, this will be my last season competing at Auburn University. My focus right now is to make it the most incredible season yet and to be the best teammate I can be, to strive for excellence and to reach our maximum potential.”

The 19-year-old said she is confident that she can return to the Olympic stage and hopes to join her teammates on the U.S. women’s gymnastics team as they get ready for the Summer Games in Paris. The national team won their seat for the 2024 Olympics after securing the top spot at the world championships earlier this month.

Lee did not compete at the world championships, choosing to focus on her upcoming season at Auburn, while former Tokyo Olympic teammates and college rivals Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles did compete.

Suni Lee became a household name after winning the all-around gold at the Tokyo Olympics. When Simone Biles unexpectedly withdrew from the competition, Lee quickly became the United States’ best bet for gold. Completely unfazed by the pressure and expectations, Lee rose to the occasion and helped secure the fifth consecutive all-around gold medal for the U.S. women. The Minnesota native left Tokyo with the full medal collection thanks to a silver in the team competition and a bronze on the uneven bars in addition to her all-around gold, but perhaps still has some unfinished business in the sport as she eyes a second Games.

Lee has been battling a kidney-related illness since early 2023, but reported at the Team USA Media Summit in April 2024 that she is in remission and remains focused on Paris.

Hear from the Olympic gold medalist in her own words.

With just 100 days remaining for the Paris Olympics 2024 and the torch being lit, Olympic champions and their legion of fans eagerly await their return to the grandest stage of them all. Among the athletes set to make a comeback is gymnastics sensation Suni Lee, the first Hmong-American Olympian and the inaugural Asian American woman to clinch the Olympic all-around title. Lee’s return in 2024 comes after a year of adversity. Just a day ago, on April 15, Nancy Armour of USA Today shared that Lee disclosed that “she actually had TWO kidney diseases.”

Suni Lee is back in the game in 2024, her determination blazing brighter than ever. This time, she’s no longer content with merely chasing Olympic glory; she’s set her sights on carving her name in gymnastics. Earlier this year, she revealed her latest masterpiece, ‘The Lee,” on the uneven bars, aptly dubbed ‘the full-twisting layout Jaeger.

Suni Lee will have to wait to have her new skill on uneven bars named after her.

The reigning Olympic champion was not assigned to the World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, as she’d hoped. Lee didn’t get any international assignments Tuesday, though she could still be sent to the Pacific Rim Championships later in the spring.

Lee had wanted to go to the World Cup so she could do her new skill — a release move where she launches herself off the top bar and does a full twisting forward somersault in a laid-out position before catching the bar again — and get it named after her. A gymnast has to do a skill at an internationally recognized meet for it to be added to the Code of Points, the sport’s scoring system.

But Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead for the U.S. women’s team, had signaled Friday that it wasn’t a given Lee would be assigned to Baku.

“If we’re sending someone just to do two events, who isn’t currently on the national team, they need to place high,” Memmel said.

OPINION:Suni Lee’s rough Winter Cup day is reminder of what makes her a great

Lee did two events at last weekend’s Winter Cup, her first meet since she withdrew from the world team selection camp last September because of a kidney ailment that severely limited her training. She fell twice on uneven bars, including on her new skill, and again on balance beam.

But she looked great during training, and there is every expectation she’ll be back in top form with more time in the gym. She’d only been training full-time again for about six weeks before Winter Cup.

“I hope they do” send Lee to Baku, longtime coach Jess Graba said Saturday. “If they don’t, then we go back and we train and we do other things.”