Suni Lee ready to shine in Tokyo spotlight

AUBURN | It’s been quite a whirlwind of a week for Jeff Graba. The Auburn gymnastics coach, who admittedly doesn’t get much sleep in the first place, has been trying to keep track of his incoming star athlete who just happens to be competing in the Tokyo Olympics.

You should know her name by now. It seems everyone in America does. Suni Lee, the master of the uneven bars, queen of the balance beam and do-it-all gymnast who might provide the biggest challenge to Simone Biles in the all-around competition. While Graba’s not in Japan with her, a person extremely close to him is: his twin brother, Jess.

“I'm typically FaceTiming him my morning, his night and figuring out how she's done that day,” Graba said. “And they're now finally at the Olympic Village, they're getting on the real equipment. So it sounds like she's had some good workouts leading up to this, but it's all going to come down now to trying to set her up for success.”

That all-important qualifying round starts on Saturday where Lee will have to finish in the top two of the United States’ competitors to get a shot at an all-around medal. She finished second to Biles in the U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Trials last month but now the entire world is watching. How will the teenager handle it? Graba is certain she’s ready.

“There's a lot of pressure and she's a competitive driven individual. So she gets better with some pressure, but the trick is to not make it bigger than it is. It is just another meet, it's just another routine. So you've got to walk the fine line between you don't want to make it seem like it's not that important because it is, and you can't fool your brain into thinking that way, and you need that adrenaline edge to get you through. But you also, you can't go over the edge and have too much adrenaline or let the anxiety get to you.”

At trials, the Minnesota native was limited on her floor routine to three tumbling passes due to an ankle injury, lowering her total possible score. With the addition of the fourth pass, Graba explains that her level of difficulty score will go up at least two tenths. He also adds that Lee being able to make that extra pass will make life a little easier on his brother.

“I do know that her and my brother weren't necessarily seeing eye to eye on the three-pass floor routine for the last four meets,” Graba said with a laugh. “She finally gets her way. So I'm sure my brother is breathing a sigh of relief because he doesn't have to deal with an angry Suni.”

With everyone already placing Biles on top of the gold medal stand due to her dominance,, it would make sense if Lee was gunning for just a medal. That’s not the case, Graba said.

“I think there is some truth that it's sort of a race to second. Everybody's going to try to figure out who can be second. But I mean, Suni just beat Simone on Sunday at the Olympic trials, Suni came out on top. So there's that possibility. I think she's closed the gap enough that Simone has to be on her game. And if she is, she is definitely the walkaway favorite. But I do think Suni's pushed the envelope enough that she's feeling the anxiety, that she can do it as well.”

Any sort of medal, especially a gold, will bring the hype for Lee’s arrival in Auburn even higher. With a profile bigger than possibly any other student-athlete on campus, it is interesting to think of how she will handle the amount of attention she gets in the classroom and while walking to and from buildings.

“I think her life's already a little out of control and I know my brother's been really trying to control the phone and that type of stuff,” Graba said. “Make sure that she's focused over there. But yeah, it's going to be crazy.”

Crazy is one way to describe the rise of Lee in gymnastics. Now, she gets to show what she can do on the biggest stage in the world. Graba will be watching, hoping that his future star can bring a medal back to the Plains. He’ll know immediately if she is on her game or not, especially in bars where Suni is the favorite for the top prize.

“There's one or two things I'm looking for. If a girl is on the floor, and if what I'm worried about is her first pass on the floor and she lands it, I can walk away. I know how the rest of the routine's going to work out. So there's one connection on bars that if Suni hits that connection, I can walk away. I know how the rest of the routine's going to be.”