Suni Lee added another medal to her Olympic haul on Sunday, taking bronze on the uneven bars at Bercy Arena.
The 21-year-old edged out defending Olympic gold medalist Nina Derwael for third place and by 0.034 points. When Lee’s score flashed across the screen, she flinched in surprised and covered her mouth with both of her chalk-covered hands.
Lee has three medals from these Games, with team gold and a bronze in the all-around. She has six total Olympic medals, including two consecutive bronze medals on uneven bars. She is the first American woman to win back-to-back Olympic medals on the same event since Aly Raisman on floor in 2012 and 2016.
China’s Qiu Qiyuan shook off a fall during the warmups to deliver one of the hardest routines of the competition that carried a 7.2 difficulty rating. Buoyed by a start vault that was six-tenths higher than her qualifying routine, the 17-year-old took silver behind Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour.
Nemour, the top qualifier, won her first Olympic medal with 15.700 points and the hardest routine of the competition.
The last competitor to go, Lee paced on the sideline at the end of the seating area. She glanced up at the screen to watch her competitors. As Nemour started gaining momentum in her routine, connecting three complicated release skills from the high bar, down to the low bar and back up to the high bar, Lee was jumping up and down. When Nemour stuck her double layout dismount, Lee’s jaw dropped and she clapped up a cloud of chalk.