The New York Times - USA (2020-06-28)

THE NEW YORK TIMES SPORTSSUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020 N 35

N.B.A.

W.N.B.A.

NASCAR

N.C.A.A.*

M.L.B.

M.L.S.

Champions League

N.H.L.

N.H.L. Draft

French Open

Wimbledon

U.S. Open (tennis)

W.T.A/A.T.P. Tours

L.P.G.A. Tour

PGA Tour

The Masters

P.G.A. Championship

U.S. Open (golf)

British Open

Summer Olympics

Paralympics

N.F.L.

Kentucky Derby

Preakness Stakes

Belmont Stakes

CANCELED

SUSPENDED/

POSTPONED

NOT

CHANGED

SCHEDULED/

STARTED

Sept. 20, 2020

May 17, 2020

July 30, 2020

Aug. 7, 2020

July 24, 2020

July 31, 2020

July 8, 2020

Nov. 12, 2020

June 11, 2020

Aug. 6, 2020

Aug. 24, 2020

Sept. 14, 2020

Sept. 5, 2020

Sept. 10, 2020

Oct. 3, 2020

June 20, 2020

July 23, 2021

Aug. 24, 2021

The Sports Calendar Is a Moving Target

* The N.C.A.A. canceled its winter and spring sports and suspended all athletic

operations. It is not clear how fall sports, including football, will be affected.

The alarm on Sunisa Lee’s
cellphone rang on Monday. She
had set it many months ago as a
joyful reminder of her departure
to St. Louis for the Olympic
gymnastics trials, which had
been scheduled to start on June
25, when she would be a favorite
to make the United States team
for Tokyo 2020.
But with the trials and the
Olympics postponed until next
year because of the coronavirus
pandemic, the alarm couldn’t
have been more deflating. Al-
ready, the past three months
have been some of the most
trying in Lee’s young life.
Lee, 17, had been ecstatic that
her gym, Midwest Gymnastics,
was set to open on June 1 after
being closed for nearly three
months. But a week before she
was to return, the killing of
George Floyd in Minneapolis
ignited passionate protests in the
area. Though the largest of them
happened about 30 minutes
away from Lee’s home in St.
Paul, Minn., her neighborhood
grocery store and Target were
looted, and she and her family
decided to stay indoors.
Around the same time, one of

Lee’s aunts and the aunt’s hus-

band died within 13 days of each

other. Then, only three weeks

after returning to training full-

time, Lee twisted her left ankle

on a fall from the uneven bars,

relegating her to nearly the same

monotonous routine she had

under quarantine — mostly

strength and conditioning train-

ing — until her ankle heals.

Even with all the tumult, Lee

likely will reset the alarm on her

phone for next year. When it

rings to signal the Olympic trials,

she wants to be ready in both

body and spirit.

This interview has been con-

densed and lightly edited for

clarity.

The days right before I went

back to the gym were supposed

to be happy ones, but the pro-

tests in Minneapolis were really

crazy for everyone here. I didn’t

go to the protests, but I under-

stand where the anger is coming

from and why people are trying

to push for change. There were-

n’t any protests in our neighbor-

hood, but one day we did have

people throwing things in our

yard. It was hard for me to even

think about going back to the

gym while all of these things

were going on.

I heard that a lot of Hmong-

owned businesses were looted

and that was hard to handle. One

of the officers there for George

Floyd’s death was Hmong, and

the one who had his knee on

Floyd’s neck was married to a

Hmong woman. So that was

extra upsetting because it kind of

made me feel like you’re a bad

person because you’re Hmong.

As a proud Hmong-American,

I’m trying to spread positivity

about Hmong people and tell

people what it’s like to be

Hmong, and I felt like this was a

big blow to our reputation.

When my aunt died of the coro-

navirus, it was very, very hard on

me and my family. I knew the

coronavirus was a real thing, but

it really hit home when my aunt

died, and it was really hard to

watch my mom go through that

with her sister. My aunt was in

her 60s, and she was one of my

favorite aunts because she was

so loving and caring and was

always supportive of me. She

wanted the best for me, and I

appreciated that. My mom would

always take me to her and my

uncle when I was injured. They

would give me herbs and give

me massages, or wrap my in-

jured ankle to have the swelling

go down. My uncle was a

shaman, a Hmong healer.

I didn’t go to my aunt’s funeral

because not many people were

allowed there because of the

coronavirus and my mom

thought it would be too emotional

for me and my siblings. But my

whole family did say goodbye to

my aunt after she was taken off

the ventilator in the hospital. We

were all on Zoom and my mom

was talking to her in Hmong,

asking my aunt to watch over us

and make sure we are OK in life.

It was definitely hard to see that.

Usually, Hmong funerals last

several days and our whole

family comes together for it. It’s

a Hmong tradition to fold thou-

sands of little paper boats with

silver or gold paper that repre-

sent money the person could

take into the afterlife, but we

couldn’t do that because of the

coronavirus. There was no time

and my relatives were scared of

traveling. So I folded as many

little boats as I could. I took the

day off from the gym so I could

fold and fold. The tradition is that

the boats are burned once the

person is buried. I watched my

aunt’s funeral on a livestream.

Two weeks later, when my uncle

died, it was a shock to my whole

family. He had recovered from

the virus, but he had a heart

attack. There are still a lot of

tears.

When my gym finally reopened, I

was so excited, but it wasn’t like

everything went back to normal.

It was really fun to see my

friends again, but we can’t hug

each other and have to say six

feet away from each other. We

have to train in smaller groups

and don’t get to see our friends

as much. We have to wear a

mask going into the gym and

then when we go to the bathroom

or take a break. We wash or

hands and use sanitizer before

and after every event.

The other difference was that

the training was so hard! My

gosh, after the first day I was so

sore that I could barely walk the

next day and for a week after

that. Training on the equipment

is very different than working

out in your own at home. I defi-

nitely didn’t think it would be as

painful as it has been.

The toughest part was going

back on the uneven bars.I feel

like most of my events came

back to me pretty fast, except the

bars. For me, I know that people

always expect me to be perfect

on bars and when I’m not per-

fect, it’s really frustrating. I’m

really hard on myself and want

things to work out right away.

It’s difficult to find the balance if

your swing is off. With the other

events, I can adjust to things, but

if my air awareness is off on

bars, everything gets really

messed up. I was really upset

when I hurt my ankle on bars

because now I can’t do them for

another few weeks. It’s basically

the same injury I had last year

going into national champi-

onships.

It’s impossible not to wonder

what I’d be doing now if the

Olympics weren’t canceled.I

know I’d be at trials right now, so

close to my goal of making it to

the Olympics. But I talk to my

gymnastics friends and it makes

me feel better because we’re all

in the same boat, looking at

another 12 months of training.

I’ve talked to Simone Biles a lot,

and it’s really nice to get to know

her in this way because she was

my idol and I used to see her as

this intimidating gold medalist,

but now she’s a friend. I tell her

about how I was finally able to

get my nails done and how I

went shopping at the Mall of

America and bought some sum-

mer clothes at PacSun and some

shoes at Nike. She told me that

she has another dog and is get-

ting another house.

I feel like the energy in the world

this year has been so negative.I

try to remind myself that I’ll

come back from my ankle injury

better than ever. I’m looking

forward to going to national team

camp soon, but that might not be

until September. I just want this

year to be over. I’m so ready for

2021.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JENN ACKERMAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Dealing With What

Might Have Been,

And With Tragedy

As Told to JULIET MACUR

Sunisa Lee, who is nursing

an injured ankle, at home

in St. Paul, Minn. Left, Lee

training at her gym, which

reopened early this month.

Lee’s injury has her doing mostly strength and conditioning training. At

home her father built a shelf to display the gymnastics medals she has won.

Along with the rest of the world,

athletes have had their careers

upended by the coronavirus pan-

demic. They are giving The New

York Times an intimate look at

their journeys in periodic install-

ments through the rest of the

year.

Time Out