Alabama coach Dana Duckworth on Auburn Olympian Suni Lee: 'Great for college gymnastics'
Ahead of Alabama gymnastics' road meet against Auburn, Alabama coach Dana Duckworth spoke on Auburn freshman Suni Lee, who broke out as the all-around gold medalist at the Olympics in Tokyo last summer.
"I think it's great for college gymnastics that we have Olympians coming to college to get an education," Duckworth said. "At the end of the day, I believe it enhances the quality of the sport.
"As far as her athleticism, that speaks for itself. She is the Olympic champion."
Duckworth also said that Lee could be a trendsetter, with more Olympians coming to compete in college gymnastics.
"I love the fact that she values the quality college education, and to be put in this position, especially with name, image and likeness (financial opportunities)," Duckworth said. "When you look at, I think, the 1996 Olympics team, all of those young women own gyms today but none went to college. When you fast-forward to even the 2016 team, none of those women went to college. And then you see the 2020 Olympic team, all of them went to college except Simone Biles."
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Alabama travels to Auburn on Friday. The meet will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. CT.
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This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Suni Lee is great for college gymnastics according to Dana Duckworth
