The reigning Olympic all-around champion had hoped to submit an original element on the uneven bars to the sport’s rule book at the event

Tokyo 2020 Olympic all-around gold medallist Suni Lee is not among the U.S. gymnasts headed to next month’s Baku World Cup (7-10 March), USA Gymnastics announced Tuesday (27 February).

Instead, it will be Reese Esponda and Katelyn Jong competing in Azerbaijan.

Lee told Olympics.com earlier in February that she hoped to earn a spot at the competition at last Saturday’s (24 February) Winter Cup competition in Louisville, Texas, so she could submit an original element on the uneven bars to the sport’s Code of Points.

“I’m just excited because I think it’ll be pretty cool having the skill being named,” said Lee in an exclusive interview ahead of the competition.

Coach Jess Graba added, “The whole reason we’re doing Winter Cup is so that we can go to Baku and get the skill named because Suni really wants to get that out of the way. Get it out of the way, so it’s not a question mark going into the spring.”

That quest will have to wait.

Lee, 20, looked spectacular during official training in Louisville, but faltered in the competition, falling twice off the uneven bars including once attempting her new element – the full-twisting, laidout Jaeger release move – and once on the balance beam.

“I wish I could redeem myself so bad, so bad!” Lee told reporters after competition. “Literally, I hit it every single time [in practice], so I’m just so frustrated. But it’s okay.”

Winter Cup was the selection event for the Baku World Cup.

Lee’s next chance at getting the skill named in international competition would be April’s Pacific Rim Championships.

Tokyo Olympics 2020 all-around champion Suni Lee has not been included in the U.S. Gymnastics contingent for the upcoming FIG World Cup 2024 in Baku, slated from March 7 to March 10, 2024.

Lee had expressed her desire to compete in the uneven bars at the World Cup and execute the “Full-twisting Jaeger”, aiming for the skill to be named “The Lee” after her.

Hence, Suni Lee took part in the Winter Cup 2024 to be a part of the upcoming World Cup series and contribute the original element on the uneven bars to Gymnastics’ Code of Points.

However, things didn’t go the way Lee had expected at the Winter Cup. She faltered twice on the uneven bars, and once on the balance beam, to manage scores of 11.800 and 12.900, eventually finishing 26th-tied and 13th, respectively in the events.

Since the Winter Cup 2024 was serving as a qualification event for the national Gymnastics team, Suni Lee’s performance didn’t help the cause.

Reese Esponda and Katelyn Jong were the two female gymnasts who secured their spots and will be traveling to Azerbaijan. Esponda, who will be making her international debut, finished seventh in the women’s all-around, collecting 52.150.

On the other hand, Jong won the bronze medal in the uneven bars at the Winter Cup, scoring 13.650, only behind Kayla DiCello and Trinity Thomas.

Baku World Cup (March 7-10)

Reese Esponda, Patrick Hoopes, Katelyn Jong, Stephen Nedoroscik

International Gymnix (March 9-10)

Lavi Crain, Addy Fulcher, Claire Pease, Tyler Turner

DTB Pokal Team Challenge and Mixed Cup (March 15-17)

Fuzzy Benas, Cameron Bock, Sasha Bogonosiuk, Dulcy Caylor, Addison Fatta, Xander Hong, Riley Loos, Kiran Mandava, Nola Matthews, Yul Moldauer, Preston Ngai, Curran Phillips, Nathan Roman, Shane Wiskus, Kai Uemura

Doha World Cup (April 17-20)

Stephen Nedoroscik, Curran Phillips

Suni Lee at the NCAA Championships

On January 7, 2022, Suni Lee debuted at the NCAA Championships representing the Auburn Tigers in a tri-meet against North Carolina and Bowling Green. She helped the Tigers in earning the victory, having competed on the bars and balance beam.

Lee went on to score her first collegiate perfect 10 in the uneven bars in a meet against LSU Tigers, making her only the sixth Auburn gymnast to achieve a perfect ten and the first since 2004.

The 2022 NCAA Championship saw Lee clinch the first position on the balance beam and second in the all-around, only behind Thomas.

With the Olympic Games only five months away, the road to Paris is gaining momentum every day. Ahead of the big rumble at the French capital, the USA gymnastics squad will have to face several smaller challenges to secure their spot in the national team. Along with the others, Auburn Tigers’ star Suni Lee also bolstered her claim once again at the recently held Winter Cup. And yet, her accolades seem to remain unnoticed by the country’s apex body and her fans can’t swallow the pill without flinching.

Lee has been riding a high horse with eyes on immortality among the gymnastics brethren. Trying to get a new move named after herself, the three-time Olympic medalist is set to step foot among the elites of the sport. Probably that’s what makes her recent absence from the national team list all the more surprising.

Suni Lee absent from the star-studded list

In a recent post, captioned, “International assignments are here!”, on Instagram by the official USA Gymnastics account, the athletes to represent the country in the upcoming international tournaments have been announced. The end of the first week of March will see the Baku World Cup commence, while the following week will witness the world’s top gymnastics talents congregate for the DTB Pokal in Germany. The stakes get another raise in April with the Doha World Cup beckoning aspiring Olympians to show their mettle on another international stage.

While the list boasts multiple national sensations including the eight-time Pan American Championships Yul Moldauer and the up-and-coming women’s gymnastics star Reese Esponda, it mysteriously omits Suni Lee’s name. While Lee’s recent slip-up at the 2024 Winter Cup saw her expressing her frustration to her fans, it’s only normal that she wants to make the most of every opportunity that comes her way on the road to Paris. And yet, with Suni out of the national team for the imminent Baku World Cup, her fans can’t help but clamor about the matter.

Fans highlight their disapproval

Since the list was announced, the country’s gymnastics fans all flocked to make their displeasure heard. One fan commented “I’m surprised“, obviously stunned to learn that some of the country’s top talents including Lee have been left out of the national team. Jill on the other hand is more concerned about the bigger stake and wrote, “Where is Suni? She needs to get her skill named!“

Logan is also flummoxed by Team USA’s decision and seems to be at a loss of words. “No Suni… oh wow“, commented the fan. Gabby thinks Suni deserves a spot in the team, and so do some others. “No trinity?? No Kayla?? No Suni??“, wrote Gabby in the comments section. Another fan also believes Trinity Thomas and Suni Lee should have received their tickets to Baku: “Where’s Suni and Trinity?” With so many fans making their feelings abundantly clear, it waits to be seen how the USA fairs at the upcoming tournaments with promises of Olympic glory on the horizon.

Suni Lee has won three Olympic medals, including gold, silver, and bronze apiece. The American gymnastics sensation accomplished this feat at the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She is also the first athlete of Hmong-American descent to compete at the Olympics.

Making her maiden appearance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Lee played an instrumental role in the United States’ silver medal victory in the team event. Initially, Lee was scheduled to compete on uneven bars and balance beam in the final. However, after Simone Biles’ withdrawal, Lee stepped up to compete in the floor exercise as a replacement for the most decorated American gymnast.

Suni Lee went on to score 15.400 on uneven bars, 14.133 on balance beam, and 13.666 on floor. With this, the USA comprising Lee, Biles, Jordan Chiles, and Grace McCallum acquired a total of 166.096, to finish second behind the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) who scored 169.528.

Lee’s next event was the women’s individual all-around final where she scored 14.600 on vault, 15.300 on uneven bars, 13.833 on beam, and 13.700 on floor. This put her in a leading position in the event, as she collected an overall score of 57.433, ahead of Rebeca Andrade and Angelina Melnikova, who scored 57.298 and 57.199, respectively.

With this, she became the sixth USA female gymnast to win the all-around title after Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin, Gabby Douglas, and Simone Biles. The Minnesota-born gymnast also clinched the bronze medal in the uneven bars, securing 14.500 in the final, to end her memorable campaign.

Suni Lee is a three-time World Championships medalist

Besides being a three-time Olympic medalist, Suni Lee owns three medals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, which makes her the 10th most successful gymnast, alongside the likes of Gabby Douglas, Kim Zmeskal, Kyla Ross, and Rebecca Bross.

Lee achieved the medal haul at the 2019 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, held in Stuttgart, Germany. At her debut World Championships, she scored 14.733 on uneven bars, 12.533 on balance beam, and 14.233 on floor exercise to help the USA clinch the gold medal.

Lee won her first individual medal in the Worlds in the uneven bars. The 20-year-old executed a flawless routine to achieve a score of 14.800 to bag the bronze medal. She ended her campaign with a silver-medal-winning performance in the floor exercise, scoring 14.133, only behind Biles (15.133).

Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee said her upcoming sophomore season at Auburn will be her last and that she will return to elite gymnastics after this winter in a bid for the 2024 Paris Games.

“I don’t want it [the Olympics] to just be once in a lifetime,” she said in a video posted Tuesday. “I have my sights set on Paris in 2024, and I know what I have to do to get there. I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and putting in the work.”

Lee, 19, hasn’t competed in elite international gymnastics since the Tokyo Games. She competed last winter and spring for Auburn in the NCAA, which has a different scoring system than the Olympics and usually requires different routines.

She took runner-up in April’s NCAA Championships all-around behind Trinity Thomas of Florida. She also won the balance beam title and helped Auburn to a fourth-place team finish, the best in program in history.

Lee then signaled a return to elite in July by participating in her first U.S. national team camp since the Tokyo Games.

Without Lee (and without Rio Olympic all-around champ Simone Biles), the U.S. women’s gymnastics team won the world title two weeks ago. Shilese Jones took all-around silver at worlds, where Lee’s Tokyo Olympic teammates Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles each won three medals.

The upcoming NCAA season runs from January into April. Lee has not said whether she plans to return to elite competition for the summer 2023 season, or if it will be in 2024 before the Paris Games.

Most Olympic medalist gymnasts who took breaks from elite came back before the Olympic year. Biles returned from a two-year competition break in 2018. Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman took time off after the 2012 London Games and returned to competition in March 2015.

Biles has not competed since Tokyo and also not ruled out a return ahead of Paris 2024.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!