AP Photo/Charlie Riedel. Suni Lee wins the bronze medal in the women's artistic gymnastics individual uneven bar finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Aug. 4.

United States Olympian gymnast Suni Lee didn’t know if she would ever make it back to international competition a few short months ago. After fighting immense challenges, sickness and doubts, Lee is leaving the Paris 2024 Olympics with three medals and a six-time overall Olympic medalist.

The 21-year-old from St. Paul was diagnosed with two kidney diseases in February 2023, putting her gymnastics career in jeopardy. While Lee has not publicly disclosed her specific diagnosis, she told SELF Magazine that her conditions are rare and do not yet have a cure, though they are both manageable with medication.

Fluids and toxins began to build up throughout Lee’s body, causing her to swell and limiting her mobility. She had to step away from her training at Auburn University to focus on her health.

Lee spent the next year working with doctors to get her body right but kept the upcoming Games in the back of her mind. Fast forward to now, Lee has announced her disease is in remission and she is coming home from Paris with more hardware.

Lee claimed a gold medal with Team USA, and bronze medals in both the individual all-around and uneven bar competitions.

“I didn’t even think that I would make it this far,” Lee told CBS News on Monday. “I’m so proud of myself, because I never would have thought that I got to this point in my life right now.”

In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to COVID-19, Lee won silver with the team, gold for all-around individual and bronze on the uneven bars.

Adversity is not a shortcoming for this USA team. Simone Biles also had to fight her way back to the podium.

Biles dropped out of the Tokyo games midway through due to experiencing the “twisties” — a condition which causes gymnasts to lose themselves in the air and can cause serious injuries — and other mental health challenges. Biles has won three gold medals and one silver in Paris, and 11 overall. This year is the third Olympics for the 27-year-old.

Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera also represent on Team USA.

In the last event for women’s gymnastics on Monday, Lee and Biles competed on the beam for individuals. However, both fell during their routines. Neither seemed to be completely defeated by it, knowing what they had to go through to get to Paris and their stellar performances so far.

The question for both Lee and Biles is whether they will be trying out for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics or are closing the book on their Olympic careers.

“You never say never. The next Olympics is on home turf,” Biles told The Today Show on Monday. “I’m just going to relax and see where life takes me.”

Biles would be 31 at the next Games.

When Lee needed an outstanding floor routine to secure the bronze medal for individual all-around on Aug. 1, she could be seen affirming to herself, “You got this,” “Last one,” “Last one ever.”

Lee reposted these comments on her TikTok page, supposedly confirming that is what she said.

However, only time will tell as Lee will continue to take care of her body. For the time being, it can definitely be said that Team USA did what they needed to do and deserve to celebrate that.