At 21, it’s almost certain the reigning all-around gold medalist Suni Lee will attend future opening ceremonies. However, we may not witness anything like what Paris delivered again. France left no stone unturned to welcome Olympic athletes 100 years after they last hosted the Olympics. The ceremony took years to plan and was a monumental feat of logistics and coordination.

Paris dubbed the historic ceremony as the biggest open-air show ever. To put things into perspective, the floating fleet carried athletes 6km (3.7 miles) to the base of the Eiffel Tower. They passed several of the city’s historic sites as Lady Gaga’s voice became their soundtrack. Behind the scenes, 45,000 police, 10,000 soldiers, including French Navy divers, and 22,000 security guards formed a living fortress surrounding the event.

Following the contingent parade, the masked individual – who went all around Paris before arriving where the ceremony unfolded – handed the Olympic torch to soccer legend Zinedine Zidane. And Zizou then handed it over to 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, who got on a boat with Serena Williams and Carl Lewis, taking the torch ever closer to the Olympic cauldron. A laser show, a hot air balloon, and a stunning performance by Celine Dion on the Eiffel Tower later, the Olympic Games finally commenced. So, it’s not surprising that Suni Lee lamented missing out on such a historic event.

So, three years after her Olympic debut that elevated her as the first Asian American to win an all-around title, Suni Lee was looking forward to the party atmosphere that Paris put on… only to miss it due to the Olympic podium training event at Bercy Arena. Talk about FOMO, which only intensified after track and field athlete Tara Davis-Woodhall shared pictures from her “selfie cam at the Olympic opening ceremony.” 

Featuring pictures with Team USA flagbearers LeBron James and Coco Gauff, as well as one with her teammates and the USA contingent, Davis-Woodhall was smiling from ear-to-ear in every last one of them. Her alma mater – the Texas Longhorns – commented, “Can you imagine meeting THE Tara Davis-Woodhall 🤩🤘” Considering how grand the ceremony was, it’s understandable why Suni Lee wrote, “Ok I’m dying, I am so jealous.” 

Suni Lee and her team didn’t make an appearance at the opening ceremony. This happened after the reigning Olympic all-around champion said, “We didn’t get this experience last Olympics, so we’re overly hyped,” referring to the bustling Olympic Village as well as having fans to support them. While experiences like these come only once in a lifetime, Lee may argue that missing the ceremony was worth it. Here’s why.

Team USA’s redemption tour takes off on a good note; coaches Landi and Graba confirms

In what was one of the most flamboyant shows the Olympics has ever seen, the 2024 Games saw the first-ever opening ceremony held anywhere other than a stadium. But as contingents from around the world sailed on River Seine, waving to fans in the French capital, Team USA was missing five crucial pieces, all because Suni Lee & Co. were preparing for their “redemption tour.”

Set to start their Olympic campaign on Sunday, the US Gymnastics squad of Lee, Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and first-time Olympian Hezly Rivera headed to Bercy Arena to test the equipment. Brushing up their routines for Sunday, the reigning World Champions started on the beam. To no one’s surprise, Suni Lee was breathtakingly elegant, as always. Yes, there were a few errors, especially when Lee fell on her layout step-out mount then her aerial series on the balance beam, and a weak exercise on the floor, but nothing she wouldn’t iron out.

When they moved to the vault, Simone Biles displayed her prowess on the apparatus. In the final rotation on the bars, Lee delivered a faultless routine akin to the one from the trails last month. And in typical Lee fashion, she ended her day with a huge smile on her face. Long story short: Simone Biles landed a perfect Yurchenko double pike, Suni Lee impressed on the floor, and Hezly Rivera looked nothing like a rookie Olympian.

After training in the US for all these months, acclimatizing to the new environment and equipment takes time. And that’s precisely what the podium training event is for, apart from spotting last-minute mistakes. Lee’s coach Jess Graba outlined the experience of watching the girls at the podium training,

“These are four veterans. And Hezly is pretty even keeled. So, I mean the whole group is really supportive of each other. You know I think it’s a fun group to train with. Obviously there’s nerves, but it’s nothing unusual. They don’t really need a lot of leadership, they just need a lot of support. They’re all pretty good leaders.”

Coach Cecile Landi couldn’t help but mark the occasion as a welcoming change compared to Tokyo. “It’s a completely different thing than Tokyo. And I think that helps also Simone, for the pressure. You know, they all are world champions, except Hezly, but like former world champions, Olympic medallists. So I think it’s just peace of mind in her head that they all have done this before.”

Even so, Suni Lee was envious of everyone who attended the one-of-a-kind ceremony, one that not even the rain could dampen. But now that is done and dusted with, there’s much to look forward to as the team preps for qualifying on Sunday.