Spencer Lee’s Battle for Olympic Glory: Overcoming Health Issues on the Road to Paris

Iowa’s prodigal son, Spencer Lee, is on the verge of securing a place in the national team for his maiden run at the Olympic Games. At last month’s stupefying performance at the Bryce Jordan Center in Penn State, Lee cruised through the 57kg bracket as a fan favorite for the tournament. However, the US still hadn’t qualified for the Olympics in the particular weight class, making it necessary for the three-time NCAA gold medalist to fly to Istanbul for the Last Chance Olympic Qualifier. But the opponents on the mats are not the only things that Spencer battles. In fact, throughout his career, he had to fight one more demon.

Over his long wrestling career, Lee has had multiple entanglements with injury. Even going into the final decisive event on the way to Paris, his knee injury remains a concern amid Lee’s ambition for the upcoming Olympics, with fans speculating whether he can rise to the occasion. With that in mind, here’s a rundown on how injuries have kept coming back and making life troublesome for the Colorado native.

Spencer Lee’s health journey: a timeline of challenges

While Lee’s injury might be the talk of the town right now, it’s by no means a new thing in his life. The first time he tore his ACL was back in high school. The incident happened during his senior year when a teammate ran over Lee. Despite the first time becoming a blurry memory by now, Lee mentioned, “I was freaking out…it sounded like a gunshot“. “I kind of crawled out“, confessed Spencer, noting that he didn’t want to put pressure on his legs.

While he battled through the adversity, Lee’s final year at the national championship also became a disaster. With two ACL injuries in 2022 itself, the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championship proved to be an uphill climb that was too steep. And it didn’t end there.

The 2023 US Open also saw Lee pulling out of the tournament, citing his injured leg. With each of these incidents, fans were denied of witnessing the thrilling rivalry between Lee and his arch-rival Nick Suriano coming to a decisive conclusion. However, Lee made a resounding comeback in November last year when he won the Bill Farrell Memorial in New York. Unfortunately, a promising collegiate career coming to an early end was probably never in the books for the three-time Big Ten champion.

What prompted the wrestling superstar to forfeit his college career?

Last year’s NCAA Championship saw Lee making his exit after being handed a defeat by Purdue’s Matt Ramos in the semifinal. With that, Spencer finished sixth in the tournament. Following the unprecedented loss, Iowa’s official statement read: “It has been a long road of a recovery for Spencer Lee. He will medically forfeit out of the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships today in Tulsa.”

With that, also ended Lee’s hopes of becoming one of the rare wrestlers who have four NCAA titles in their cupboards (a feat that has since been repeated by Penn State’s Aaron Brooks and Carter Starocci, the latter now eyeing a record-setting fifth national title). But, on the other hand, let’s not forget that with his injury laden career, he has five All-America honors, two Hodge Trophies, and a Sullivan Award under his belt. But the injuries seemed to have a more lasting impact than anyone had anticipated.

After winning the 57kg bracket at the April event at Penn State, Lee stated, “I’ve had such a tough time trying to stay healthy and trying to compete to the best of my ability.” But, his next statement came as the embodiment of his grit and determination. “I’m still not healthy but I’m healthy enough to wrestle hard against really, really good opponent,” Lee had asserted. And it seems that Lee has already started keeping his words in Istanbul.

In his first match against Morcco’s Ben Tarik, Lee swept his opponent 10-0. Now, with more formidable opponents like Iran’s Alireza Sarlak and Aman Sherawat of India standing in his way, it waits to be seen if Lee can overcome the challenges thrown at him to finally reach the grand stage and make up for all the lost opportunities during his collegiate career.