U.S. gymnast Suni Lee, all-around champion, takes bronze on uneven bars

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Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, August 1, 2021 - USA gymnast Sunisa Lee earns a Bronze Medal in the Uneven Bars with a score of 14.50 at Ariake Gymnastics Centre. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee of St. Paul, Minn., added a bronze medal to her collection from the Tokyo Games when she finished third in the uneven bars event final on Sunday at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. In addition to her all-around gold medal, Lee also won a silver medal in the team competition.

Lee, 18, will have another chance at a medal Tuesday, in the balance beam event final on the final day of the Tokyo gymnastics competition.

Lee led off the uneven bars competition Sunday and scored a 14.500, which was below the 15.200 she had scored in the qualifying phase a week ago. This time, she missed some connections between moves, resulting in a lower score. She likely didn’t have much practice time after winning the all-around title Thursday, because she was in great demand for post-victory interviews.

Nina Derwael of Belgium won the gold medal with a sharp routine that earned her 15.200 points. Anastasiia Iliankova of the Russian Olympic Committee was second with 14.833 points, followed by Lee.

Lee was the only American in the uneven bars final following the withdrawal of Simone Biles, who has not competed since she was scratched from the team event after landing one wobbly vault. Biles had qualified for the all-around and all four event finals. She has not yet said whether she will compete in the balance beam final, though vault silver medalist MyKayla Skinner said she thought Biles would return to compete in that event. According to USA Gymnastics, Biles will make a decision about competing in the balance beam final later this week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.