Olympic hero Sunisa Lee banks off success thanks to NIL

Thanks to NIL, Auburn gymnast Sunisa Lee is able to parlay her gold-medal success in the 2020 Olympics into financial security without giving up her pursuit of higher education.

It’s something that wouldn’t have been possible just two short years ago. But it is now, and Lee – who is arguably the most decorated student-athletes in the country with an Olympic all-around gold medal and individual bronze medal – is making the most of the college experience.

Lee has a massive On3 NIL Valuation of $1.5 million and is listed at No. 10 in the On3 NIL 100. Her On3 NIL Valuation is in the same stratosphere as future NFL stars like Caleb Williams, Jordan Addison, Will Anderson and Bijan Robinson. Lee is the second-highest female student-athlete in the On3 NIL 100, only behind LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, who has more than 8 million social media followers and a long list of NIL deals.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. It calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future. The On3 NIL 100 is the first of its kind and the defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by market valuation.

Understandably as an Olympic hero, advertisers have been gravitating toward her. Lee has racked up nearly double-digit NIL deals, including with high-profile companies like Amazon, Invisalign, Gatorade and Target.

Sunisa Lee juggles stardom with college life

Sunisa Lee told the Associated Press she was still planning on attending college, but the decision was a little bit easier when the NCAA allowed her to bankroll future thanks to NIL.

“Even without the NIL, I knew I wanted to go to college anyway just because I had to come to find my love for the sport again,” Lee told the AP. “I had to get out of the elite world just because it is so different. This is so much more fun, and having the team be so supportive.”

Lee went on to have the most decorated year in Auburn gymnastics history in 2022, capturing eight All-America honors, one national championship, an SEC title and being named the SEC Freshman of the Year. Lee won the NCAA Championship on beam with a 9.9625 and was runner-up in the all-around with a 39.675 (4/14). She also secured four All-America honors at the national meet, while securing four at the end of the regular season.

“I think if the Olympics were a year earlier and this happened, she couldn’t make that decision to attend college,” said Auburn coach Jeff Graba, whose twin brother Jess has been Lee’s longtime personal coach.

Yet, now thanks to NIL and the opportunity at Auburn, Lee is able to get a somewhat normal college experience.

Granted, there aren’t too many college sophomores who have their own leotard line with GK Elite and are running their own clothing line, Pretty Little Thing, from their college dorm rooms. There are also not many with 3.5 million social media followers across Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.

But in hindsight, maybe that is the new normal for college student-athletes that star on the world stage because of NIL.

“I don’t want to look back and be like, I could have done so much more,” Lee told the AP. “I want to look back and know I gave it everything I had and if I didn’t succeed, I didn’t. But I gave it my all.”

Lee ready to defend Olympic, NCAA titles

Along with her focus on helping Auburn on the mat this winter, Lee is also preparing to defend her Olympic title in Paris in 2024. While Lee is competing for NCAA titles, she also feels she has much to prove.

Lee is originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, and she was the first Hmong American and first Asian woman to win the Olympic gymnastics all-around title. However, said she doesn’t think she’s reached her full potential yet – as a student-athlete, an entrepreneur and an Olympian. She believes she is indeed gold medal-worthy in all aspects of her life.

“I think it’s something I just want to prove to myself because I think I have a lot of doubters,” Lee said. “And prove it to everybody else but more importantly to myself.”