From the Olympics to Iowa: Cassie Lee among Canadian gymnasts excited to become Hawkeyes

PARIS — A whirlwind of a summer will come to an end when Canadian gymnast Cassie Lee arrives in Iowa City on Saturday.

It was just four weeks ago when she arrived in Paris to compete as part of her country’s Olympic team. A short stint of acclimating and training was followed by a first taste of Olympic competition — including helping her team equal a best-ever result.

Then she squeezed in a couple of days in the Olympic Village, a few more days in a rental unit with a fellow gymnast so they could explore the city, and then straight home to pack and make the two-day drive to Iowa City.

She knows it’s been an exhausting stretch, but she can’t wait to get to campus, and figures the adrenaline rush will make any tiredness a distant memory.

“I’m so excited, I’ve been looking forward to moving into college for a long time, considering how originally, I was class of 2023, and then I decided to defer so I could pursue the Olympics. And now that that has happened, I can say I’m ready for college now,” said the 18-year-old, who will be joined by fellow Canadian Olympians Aurelie Tran and Sydney Turner as incoming Hawkeye gymnasts.

Tran and Lee helped guide Canada to fifth place in the women’s artistic gymnastics team final, which tied for all-time best with the 2012 London Olympics team. Turner was an alternate on the team.

Lee, who has been on the national team since 2021, scored 13.333 on the balance beam, followed by 12.600 on her floor routine. Two days earlier in qualifying, she competed on those apparatuses, as well as the uneven bars.

“Bars is not my strong suit, but they did put me up just to have four scores, and I did the best I could there, so I was quite happy about that,” said Lee, a Torontonian who started gymnastics at the age of 3 and began competing at 9. “In team finals, I competed on beam first. A lot of people get nervous on beams, including me. So, I was glad that I could hit a good beam routine there, and just stay on that beam, and keep the momentum for the rest of our girls after me.

“And then on floor, I didn’t get credit for one skill I did. Our coaches did submit an inquiry, but they still didn’t give it. So, I was disappointed, but it’s not up to me. It’s up to the judges.”

She added she didn’t want to get overwhelmed by the moment, so she tried to pretend it was just a normal event.

“The Olympics is such a big competition,” she said. “But I was able to kind of keep that out of my head, because if I thought about the Olympics being so big, it was going to get to me. So, I didn’t really think about it until after I competed, and I was like: ‘Wow, I just competed at the Olympics.’

“And me and Aurelie also had a moment after the competition. We’re both like: ‘Oh my God, we’re Olympians,’ which is just insane.”

Lee said she narrowed her college choice down to Iowa and Michigan, feeling the Hawkeyes wanted her more, were more welcoming and more supportive of her “journey toward the Olympics” and overall goals in the sport. She also had a longstanding friendship with Iowa junior Kaia Vanney, who encouraged her to come.

Now, she is looking forward to being able to compete in a team dynamic, which is very different from the individualistic world of international gymnastics. Plus, she expects to have an active social life, which she missed out in high school as an elite athlete studying online. And she’s keen to delve into her studies, hoping to become a dentist like her mom.

She noted she is not yet sure about 2028 in Los Angeles, and will wait until after a full year with the Hawkeyes before she even thinks about that.

She described how she, Tran and Turner have become three Hawkeye “peas in a pod” on Team Canada.

For her part, Tran, who will be studying biochemistry, said she had also considered Michigan, as well as Nebraska, but that neither could match what Iowa could offer.

“The people there were so nice and welcoming,” Tran said. “It just felt like home right away. And to have two of my best friends going there too, I’m so excited to spend the next four years with them.”