TOKYO — The thing Sunisa Lee is most looking forward to now that she is the Olympic all-around gymnastics champion is not her instant fame as one of Team U.S.A.’s biggest stars. It’s packing up her belongings less than a week after she arrives home in Minnesota from the Tokyo Games so she can head to college.
Lee, who on Thursday became the fifth straight American woman to win the Olympic all-around, must report to Auburn University by Aug. 11, she said, eight days after she is scheduled to compete in the Olympic balance beam final.
After years of long, grueling days at the gym, Lee, 18, can’t wait to be just another college freshman, meeting new friends, going to classes and living in a dorm with other students who may or may not recognize that she is a newly minted Olympic gold medalist.