Suni Lee has been taking a break from gymnastics after winning team gold for the U.S. at the Paris Olympics, but she’s still keeping close tabs on teammate Jordan Chiles amid the emotional fallout from the controversy. for the bronze medal.
“I’ve just been trying to make sure she’s okay and she realizes she’s absolutely amazing and nothing will define her.” Lee told Glamor.
Chiles was recently stripped of the bronze medal she competed in the floor exercise at the Paris Games, prompting the distraught Olympic gymnast to temporarily withdraw from public life.
Chiles initially finished fifth in the eight-woman final before Team USA coach Cecile Landi appealed Chiles’ score, asking to receive credit for a maneuver that would increase her score by .1. The appeal was granted, placing Chiles in third place. He won bronze and participated in the medal ceremony after the competition.
However, Romania successfully protested to the CAS that Landi’s appeal was not made within a minute of the publication of Chiles’ score, and the panel has since ruled that the bronze should go to Barbosu. The International Gymnastics Federation restored the initial finishing order and the IOC announced it would reallocate the bronze to Barbosu, who received the medal during a ceremony in Bucharest last month.
(Left to right) Team USA gymnasts Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Simone Biles
When asked what she would do if the IOC tried to get Chiles’ physical medal back, Lee told Glamor that she would “throw it in the ocean or something.”
Lee admitted she had a nervous breakdown the night before the Paris Olympics, but admits Simone Biles helped her calm down.
“It’s like a ritual,” the 21-year-old told Glamor of her usual struggle with nerves before big competitions.
It was Chiles who knew what to do.
“She said, ‘I’m going to go get Simone,'” Lee said of Chiles.
Lee begged Chiles to let Biles sleep, but Chiles was determined.
“Simone, Suni is panicking,” Lee remembers Chiles saying after knocking on Biles’ door.
And what was Biles’ advice to Lee?
“You have to walk around like you’re the reigning Olympic champion, and you have to take ownership of it,” Lee recalled. “You have to remind yourself that you are good enough and that you are on this team for a reason.”
It obviously helped, as Lee was instrumental in Team USA winning gold.