Tokyo Olympics: A distracted Suni Lee still earns a bronze medal on uneven bars

NBC

American Sunisa Lee didn't feel right Sunday during her uneven bars routine.

An Olympic bronze medal is nothing to sneeze at but Sunisa Lee couldn't help but sound disappointed.

The gold medal winner of the women's all-around gymnastic title last Thursday, Lee expected to do better on the uneven bars, her favorite event.

"Bars is something I really cherish," Lee said. "So when I mess it up, it really sucks.

“It really sucks because this wasn’t the bar routine I was supposed to do or wanted to do,” Lee said. “Bars is, like, my thing. I’m just kind of sad about it.”

It was the evening's high score, 15.3 that she earned for her complicated routine on the uneven bars during the all-around competition that put her in serious contention for the gold.

But Sunday night, she didn't feel right. She only scored 14.5. Belgium’s Nina Derwael won gold with a 15.2. Derwael won the last two world championships.

Lee admits the distractions that come with winning the gold medal may have affected her performance.

Since her gold medal a little more than two days ago, she has been caught in a whirlwind of interviews and social media mentions. It's a lot. As a result, judging from her uneven bars performance Sunday, it's probably too much.

Since the Olympics began ten days ago, the Hmong American's popularity has exploded. She's added 950,000 followers on Instagram, a stunning 390% increase, including 365,000 since she won the gold medal.

The fame and glory is something she wasn't prepared for. She was expecting to be playing second fiddle to Simone Biles, who was expected to dominate the gymnastics competition. Biles unexpected withdrawal to focus on her mental health needs, put Lee in the spotlight she never sought.

A bronze medal,"is really cool," Lee said. "I just wish the bronze medal was a (balance) beam medal, not bars."

Lee will get a chance to add to her gold and bronze when she enters the balance beam final on Tuesday, admittedly not her best event. A medal on vault would be a bit of a surprise.

She believes the social media was a distraction Sunday. The 18-year old Minnesotan  thinks she might avoid Twitter until the competition is over.