Suni Lee Announces Return to Gymnastics Two Years Ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

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Sunisa Lee has officially announced her return to competitive gymnastics, setting her sights on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The Tokyo 2020 all-around champion revealed the news in a video posted to her Instagram account, telling followers she is back in the gym and beginning preparations for the next Olympic cycle. The announcement came exactly two years before the Los Angeles Games are due to open, a piece of timing that underlined how deliberately the 23-year-old is approaching what would be her third Olympic campaign.

Lee has not competed since the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she was central to one of the most successful showings in the recent history of the United States women’s program. She helped the American team win gold, then added individual bronze medals in the all-around and on the uneven bars, her signature event. Those results took her career Olympic tally to six medals, comprising two golds, one silver and three bronzes, and made her the first American woman to win two Olympic medals on the uneven bars.

Her place in the sport’s history was secured in Tokyo, where she won the all-around title after a dramatic competition, adding a silver medal with the American team and a bronze on the uneven bars at the same Games. That all-around triumph made her the first Asian American woman to claim gymnastics’ most prestigious individual Olympic title and one of the most celebrated athletes of those Olympics. The victory carried particular resonance in her home state of Minnesota, where Lee grew up in Saint Paul as part of the Hmong American community, and it turned her into a role model for young athletes far beyond gymnastics.

For her comeback, Lee is returning to familiar surroundings. She will train at Midwest Gymnastics in Little Canada, Minnesota, the gym where she developed from a junior prospect into an Olympic champion. Returning to her longtime training base gives her continuity as she rebuilds routines and conditioning after an extended break, and it keeps her close to the family and community that have anchored her career.

The time away was a considered choice rather than a retirement. After the intensity of the Paris Games, Lee stepped back from formal competition to rest and focus on her wellbeing, while remaining a visible figure in the sport through appearances and social media. The pause followed several demanding years in which she balanced elite competition with health challenges, including the kidney illness that disrupted her preparations before Paris and made her medal-winning comeback there all the more remarkable.

Lee also spent part of the last Olympic cycle competing collegiately for Auburn University, an experience she has credited with renewing her enjoyment of the sport. Her willingness to speak openly about the pressures of elite gymnastics, and about managing her health while competing at the highest level, has endeared her to fans and made her one of the most influential voices among active American gymnasts.

She will not be the only Paris medalist chasing a place in Los Angeles. Jade Carey, an Olympic gold medalist and a teammate of Lee’s on the victorious 2024 team, has also returned to competitive gymnastics, and Hezly Rivera, the youngest member of that Paris squad, is likewise back in active training. The prospect of several established champions competing for places alongside a rising generation points to fierce competition for the five spots on the Olympic team.

The home-soil factor looms large in those calculations. Los Angeles 2028 will be the first Summer Olympics held in the United States since Atlanta in 1996, and gymnastics is expected to be one of its marquee attractions. For American athletes, the chance to compete at a home Games is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and it has been cited by several returning veterans as a central motivation. Lee’s road to Los Angeles is also set to be documented by Fanatics Studios, reflecting the public interest her comeback has generated.

The challenge ahead of her is considerable. The gymnastics landscape has continued to evolve since Paris, with new talents emerging in the United States and abroad and difficulty levels rising across all four apparatus. Lee will need to rebuild her fitness, update her routines to the current scoring code and then prove herself through the national championships, trials and selection events that stand between any American gymnast and an Olympic berth.

Experience, however, counts for a great deal in a sport where composure under pressure often decides medals. Lee has competed and delivered on the biggest stages, and her mastery of the uneven bars gives her a clear route to team value even as she rebuilds in other events. Her presence in training halls will also benefit younger teammates preparing for their first Games, adding a mentorship dimension to her comeback.

For now, the announcement itself is the milestone. Two years out from Los Angeles, one of the defining American gymnasts of her generation has committed to another Olympic pursuit, and her progress through the coming season of training and competition will be followed closely. If the comeback culminates in a place on the team in 2028, Lee will have the chance to close her Olympic story in front of a home crowd.