Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee opened up about her experiences with anxiety and “imposter syndrome” since becoming the all-around champion in July.
“I feel like after the Olympics, there’s just been so much doubt in like, ‘Oh, she shouldn’t have won Olympics, blah, blah, blah,’ and it really hits my soul,” she told ESPN’s Alex Scarborough.
Lee, who currently competes for Auburn’s gymnastics team, told Scarborough that these feelings almost caused her to skip collegiate competitions. With the Tigers, Lee has led an accomplished collegiate career, scoring perfect 10s in two events. In February, the freshman scored a perfect 10.0 on uneven bars, and later that month racked up another 10.0 score on balance beam.
After her gold medal win in the Summer Games, Lee said she has felt enormous pressure to perform well. It became so taxing that Lee began experiencing panic attacks before meets.
“I would have anxiety attacks at the meets,” she said. “Like the first couple of the meets of this season, I was a wreck because it was like constant screaming my name and like, ‘Suni, can you take a picture?’ or ‘Can you sign an autograph?’ while I’m trying to concentrate.”
She was part of Team USA’s Olympic gymnastics roster and took home the all-around gold medal in Tokyo. Heading into the Olympics, Simone Biles was heavily favored to defend the title, which she won in 2016. But Biles pulled out of the games ahead of the team and all-around competition finals, citing a desire to focus on her mental health as well as a case of the “twisties.”
According to Scarborough, Lee said she wanted to prove that she earned her gold medal because she had engrained in her head that she didn’t deserve it. The internal pressure has impacted her time at Auburn.
“When everybody expects you to be good for Auburn, it’s really hard for me just mentally, because I already put so much pressure on myself that when I have that extra pressure stress added on to it, I just kind of break,” she said.
The gymnast said that she has used journaling as a tool to help relieve her anxiety.
Auburn is currently tied for sixth place in the nation with a 197.650 Team NQS, according to RoadtoNationals.
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