Sharing her experience has also helped Suni when it comes to her battle with eczema. And recently, the 21-year-old partnered with Eli Lilly and Company—the health equity sponsor of Team USA—to help others with the same diagnosis feel less alone.
“I feel like it started off really difficult because I always felt so insecure, and, I guess, just embarrassed to say that I had eczema or to even show the symptoms,” Suni said. “I know when I was having a flare-up and it was very noticeable, I was always trying to cover it up with my makeup, which ultimately made it worse. So, it didn’t help in the end. But I think being able to talk about it and also partnering with Lilly has been something so amazing for me mentally because I feel so much more confident in my own skin and now I can just embrace it.”
“I think that’s the message that I want to send out to younger generations,” she continued, “because, when I was younger, I don’t think a lot of people were talking about it. So to be someone that other people can kind of look up to is just a great feeling all around.”
And whether the three-time Olympic medalist adds some more hardware to her trophy shelf or not, she’s proud of how far she’s come.
“I think I would give myself a medal for not giving up,” Suni said. “I mean, there has been so much that I could have given up on and so many things that have happened to where I could have just kind of put this aside and moved on with my life. But I wanted better for myself and I also wanted to be able to walk away from this Olympics or this quad knowing that I gave everything that I had and not regret anything.”
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