Suni Lee Thread; latest: confirms one more season at Auburn and then Olympic bid

[irichluck21]

I believe that Suni said in an interview that college life at Auburn was not what she thought it would be but additionally, the fame of her Olympic gold has followed her to school and that she cannot have a “normal” college experience due to the Olympic fame and being easily recognized.

I can see how that would change the experience to make it not as pleasant.

 

[Yarotska]

Ya, and that’s probably why my opinion of her is a bit diminished as a brand. (I am sure she is a lovely human being). Just a significant contract from Jad and Jordan and how they have taken to the college life

Well they’re on the west coast and she’s in Alabama. I don’t care what anyone has to say about Alabama, I would never want to go there.

 

[navyblue]

FWIW, if you are deeply invested in an old-fashioned American college experience, with tree-lined campuses, football games and tailgating, etc., Auburn/University of Alabama are lovely places to live out a fairly sheltered student experience in the liberal bubble that universities provide. But for someone who’s just been catapulted into minor celebrity, with agency representation and a jet-set NYC/LA lifestyle, the value of that ideal might diminish, of course.

 

[Doug1233]

I think you are missing the point here

Yeah, no:

She needs someone with authority in her life to knock her straight.

 

[Yarotska]

Yeah, I didn’t want to dive back into it, but since you pointed it out, some of the things cuuf has said about Suni are pretty damn gross and indefensible. Truly unsettling to read what some people with much more life experience are saying about a teenager that started a new job that she had lined up for a while, discovered it was rather toxic and decided to put in her notice.

 

[Sasha]

She was a grown azz woman when she decided to go to Auburn after the olympics.

I mean, yeah, but she didn’t exactly have a lot of time to process her win or how radically it would change her life. Given Simone’s dominance, I wonder if she seriously entertained the idea of being the Olympic AA champion prior to July 2021.

 

[cuuf]

Talk about cancel culture. Nothing I have said is “gross and indefensible”. You may not agree with it, and thats fine, but its not far out or rude statement. So tell me when, at what age specifically, does she become an adult accountable for her actions and subject to any criticism? Look, perhaps I have a more cynical worldview on things. MY OPINION, these media savvy, constantly connected athletes (heck the average teen, have you heard of D’Amelio sisters?) are much more in tune to things. In Suni’s case, this is someone who was plenty insta popular BEFORE the olympics, had a prominent role in a well-published gymnastics documentary, and plenty other media and worldly experience. So ya, maybe I am more cynical that I dont fully believe that she is a doe-eyed youth peeking her head out in the world and golly gee how could she have ever known anything.

 

[RedBirdie]

There’s nothing average about the D’Amelio sisters.

 

[JDB]

She was on a sports scholarship, right? There wasn’t an opportunity-cost to her attending Auburn. So she didn’t have much to lose from trying so many things.

 

[makam]

I guess i don’t understand all the outrage/upset or even caring about her “brand” when she makes a new decision on what to do with her life. I mean, i would get a useful college degree because the gravy train could always derail but you only have to watch a few bama rush videos to start seeing why Suni might not be perfectly comfortable there. But i also haven’t been following any team/college drama cuz i…don’t care and neither Suni nor any other Olympian is in a place to sell me anything–not the insta target audience.

But if someone wants to enlighten me about why her leaving ncaa two (?) years early is such a big deal, im willing to be educated.

 

[GoldyGopher]

Exactly. I don’t get the issue at all. Plenty of football, basketball, hockey players of her level of potential go to NCAA for a year or two and then go professional. What’s the difference? I haven’t seen anything from her or anyone else connected to Auburn or her that says it was the worse decision she ever made or that she hated it. Heck, even if she did, if she wanted to leave after a year, so what? there are plenty of one and done players in men’s sports and no one acts like their brand is suffering or should suffer. We got to see her compete every weekend and seem to enjoy at least part of it for two years. I’m not upset about that…
I don’t remember this level of anger when ASac competed from Brown for one year and then left…

 

[Yarotska]

So tell me when, at what age specifically, does she become an adult accountable for her actions and subject to any criticism?

What is there to be accountable for? She went to school, she contributed greatly to the program, and she hasn’t said anything negative about the coaches or her teammates.

She’s not above criticism, but some of your criticism makes no sense. She owes nothing to the school or anybody. Do you work for a company where people are afraid to leave because of how much their boss has done for them despite not being happy and having other, more fulfilling opportunities available to them?

So what is it that you thought Suni should have done? You wanted her to leave NCAA after DWTS before she even experienced the competitive atmosphere? You wanted her to either quit before starting or stay all four years regardless of her happiness?

 

[Doug1233]

Right. “Accountable for her actions”?! She didn’t murder someone!

 

[GymBeauty]

Auburn’s gymnastics program has been benefitted enormously by Suni, and every NCAA program must realize there’s a high chance their elite athletes will leave for the Olympic season and not come back.

Some people are acting like Suni was dating and manipulating some innocent old rich person for their money and then cheated on them and broke their heart. Even if that were the case, it’s ultimately not an outsider’s place to pass judgement on the entirety of a person for it.

 

[cftmoonlight79]

I just wonder if the Auburn choice was even really her own. She probably committed there when she was 12, and the twin brother thing just screams “planned”. I wonder if she would make that same choice now.

 

[irichluck21]

In Suni’s case, this is someone who was plenty insta popular BEFORE the olympics, had a prominent role in a well-published gymnastics documentary, and plenty other media and worldly experience.

She might have been “popular” in social media but the average American had no idea who Suni Lee was up until the Olympics when she had the opportunity of a lifetime and won the Olympic all around gold.
She quickly followed that up with an appearance on Dancing with the Stars, which further elevated her status to the general population.

Multiple Olympic gold medalists have gone to NCAA or currently are in NCAA and don’t have the star status that Suni does at Auburn. Part of the reason why is that Auburn has fully benefitted from her status as an Olympic gold medalist in the premier sport of the Olympics. NCAA gymnastics is on a huge trajectory right now and becoming an extremely popular sport with the general public as evidenced by the television statistics.

You simply cannot compare what happened before the Olympics to what happened post Olympics in this situation. They aren’t even remotely comparable.

She has every right to feel like Auburn experience is not right for her or that she is putting her focus on elite gymnastics rather than attend NCAA.

Don’t forget the various athletes that have put college on hold so they could make a run for the Olympics.
Brenna Dowell did this and eventually returned to NCAA.
MyKayla Skinner did this and ended up forgoing her last year of NCAA eligibility.

Questioning Suni’s decision based off some sort of loyalty she owes Auburn is redundant.

Auburn has capitalized FAR MORE from Suni attending just in her freshman year than Suni capitalized off of Auburn. She has literally changed the entire program in just one season and bumped them up from a tier 2/tier 3 school to a tier 1 school capable of SEC and NCAA titles. That’s HUGE for Auburn gymnastics program.

 

[Passion]

MyKayla Skinner did this and ended up forgoing her last year of NCAA eligibility.

And a lot of people complained about it, declared that she was lying when she said she planned to finish her degree after the Olympics, and joked that she’d end up pregnant immediately upon retiring from elite.

Only one person in this entire thread disagrees with Suni’s choice.

I don’t remember this level of anger when ASac competed from Brown for one year and then left…

In interviews at the time Alicia said it was Marta’s “suggestion” that she focus on only elite. Which was understood by everyone to be Marta-speak for stop NCAA now or you’re dead to me. Marta was critical of Alicia doing both NCAA and elite at the same time in '07 and didn’t want it interfering her own death march to the Games in '08.

Plus she was really running herself ragged in '07. She wasn’t doing just NCAA during the school year and elite in the Summer like the athletes of today. Alicia was literally driving hours back and forth from college to practices at Brestyan’s in the same day, while still attending the Karolyi camps every single month AND competing for Brown every week. It was an insane schedule.

 

[makam]

And a lot of people complained about it, declared that she was lying when she said she planned to finish her degree after the Olympics,

Did she end up finishing it? I dont follow her sm either.

 

[Passion]

Did she end up finishing it? I dont follow her sm either.

She’s graduating this semester (Fall '22)

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

And a lot of people complained about it, declared that she was lying when she said she planned to finish her degree after the Olympics, and joked that she’d end up pregnant immediately upon retiring from elite.

TBF pregnancy and studying aren’t mutually exclusive! Speaking as someone who wondered if Mykayla might want a baby soon given that she talked about having a big family, I saw no reason to think that precluded the degree. Perfectly valid to balance the two things if that’s what you want to do, plenty of women have. It was the NCAA competition part that was very clearly not happening again.

I think we are in a transition period now, though. There seems to be more awareness than there was a year or two ago that NCAA gymnastics is simply a system that works for some and not others, rather than a great privilege being bestowed on a gymnast who owes gratitude for the opportunity. I wonder if some of Mykayla’s clear dissatisfaction would be more easily understood now than it was five years ago: not the complaints about the scores, people never like that, but the way she clearly didn’t think it was the be all and end all.