During the summer of 2016, senior Thomas Lee traveled to St. Louis to compete in the 2016 P&G Junior National Championships, securing his place as one of the best young gymnasts in the country. This performance garnered attention from many top universities, including Stanford.
“Thomas had a great competitive junior year qualifying [for] the P&G Championships,” says Stanford assistant coach Syque Caesar. “He also had a phenomenal summer of training, before an unfortunate injury. He has been maintaining high grades and test scores. All of this combined made a positive impact on the coaching staff and we became interested in his potential.”
For 15 years, Lee has been devoting his time to the demanding sport of gymnastics. Lee has been a member at Stanford Boys Gymnastics, where he competed on the competitive team. There he made the U.S. Junior Nationals, leading him to be recruited by Stanford.
“Thomas has always been someone who has led by example,” says David Eaton, a coach at SB Gymnastics. “He brings high level gymnastics to the team, showing that the big skills can be attained. The younger boys definitely look up to him for guidance and inspiration.”
At Stanford, Lee plans on studying to be an orthopedic surgeon. This was mostly inspired by the injury he sustained last summer as a result of a poor landing during a practice, which kept him sidelined for nine months due to a knee injury in which he tore his MCL and PCL, temporarily threatening his chances at a collegiate gymnastics career.
“At first I was pretty worried that I would not be able to do college gymnastics,” he explains. “But after talking to numerous coaches and doctors, they reassured me that my injury would not have any long-term impacts.”
With the injury, Lee was forced to undergo rehab to get back onto the recovery path.
“One month after the injury, I had surgery and had two grafts to replace my torn ligaments,” he explains. “About two months after surgery, I was able to walk and had to slowly gain back my range of motion in my knee and my strength in my leg.”
After undergoing treatment for his knee, Lee became inspired by the work of those surgeons who helped him recover. “I want to become an orthopedic surgeon that can help athletes and work with athletes when they are injured, much like the injury that I had last summer,” he says. “It is going to take many years, but that is what I want to do.”
Lee also is working to obtain a dual citizenship with Hong Kong, hoping that with it, he will one day get a chance to compete in the Olympics, where Hong Kong competes as an individual country.
“If I get my citizenship solidified with Hong Kong and get it all sorted out, I’ll most likely be able to go through test events,” says Lee. “Through Hong Kong, I’ll try to make it to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and if that doesn’t work out, I’ll try to go to the next one in 2024.”
With his admission into Stanford and the possibility of the Olympics, the future looks bright for Lee.
“I think Thomas has the potential to be a successful collegiate gymnast,” Caesar states. “Thomas is a gamer. When the stakes get bigger, he gets better. He is someone that you can count on to make things happen when the odds are slim. It’s a quality that the best athletes in the world possess.”
From continuing the recovery process from his injury to taking on the rigors of being a student-athlete at Stanford, there is no question that Lee will have his work cut out for him over the coming years. However, with Lee’s strong ambitions and motivations, he’ll unquestionably tackle all the challenges that life throws at him.
“It will undoubtedly be a lot harder than it has ever been, but it just forces me to dedicate more time to my future and to what is important .”
