Song of Redemption: U.S. Olympic Gymnast Sunisa Lee Performs to Lindsey Stirling's Music

By Laurie Niles: I was watching the women's gymnastic routines over the last week at the Paris Olympics, and one caught my attention more than the others: American gymnast Sunisa ("Suni") Lee's floor routine. Of course, I watch with the perspective of a musician, and I was immediately happy to hear the sound of a violin. I also guessed pretty quickly that this was the music of violinist Lindsey Stirling - an extraordinary American artist who dances, plays, writes her own music, and uses her wild imagination to create stunning videos and arena shows that arguably attract more attention to the violin than any other current act on the planet, other than perhaps Andre Rieu. While gymnastics and ice skating incorporate music in their Olympic events, neither sport is exactly "dance." To me, sometimes - not always but sometimes - the choreography feels like obligatory filler between the dazzling (and compulsory) technical elements that earn points for the win. I don't often get too swept up in the music. I felt differently about Lee's routine, which used Stirling's hot-off-the-press single, "Eye Of The Untold Her" from the album Duality, which came out in mid-June. You can watch the routine here. There was something very heartfelt about this combination of physical movement and music. The music itself is obviously significant to Stirling - and it's one of her best. The music video for that song (watch it here) begins with the disembodied voices of the judges who brutally dismissed her on "America's Got Talent" back in 2010. It goes from there, in a dreamlike retrospective of her entire career, with sequences of heartbreak and comeback, putting her in costuming from each of her albums and tours dating back some 14 years. Stirling is a dancer, and it would seem, a shape-shifter. The dancing and gymnastics that she does, all while playing a violin, certainly pushes against what is possible. In the end of this video, the camera pans to a violin resting on the floor - the object of so much pain and pleasure. We hear again the disembodied voice from the past - Piers Morgan: "You're not good enough." She responds, "Not good enough - yet." Pan to another American woman, Sunisa Lee. She actually used Stirling's music (Underground from the album Artemis) for her floor routine performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as well, when she won her first Olympic gold medal. But in the intervening years, life hit her hard, as is documented in several interviews including one this week with the New York Times. The celebrity that came with her gold-medal wins did not bring happiness - instead it brought unwanted attention, even stalkers. There was self-doubt, as online critics questioned whether she deserved to win, with Simone Biles having dropped out that year. As a result, Lee fell into anxiety and depression. To make matters worse, in late 2022 she discovered that she had several kinds of kidney diseases, which caused her body to swell and even had her bedridden for a time. She visited the Mayo Clinic, trying to find the right medications and treatments to control her symptoms. Finally at the beginning of the year, with her symptoms under better control, she resumed her Olympic training in earnest. By the start of the Olympics they were in remission. Fast-forward to the present moment: Lee has kicked ass all week in Paris. On Tuesday her floor routine performance earned her a score of 13.533 and helped Team USA secure gold in the women’s gymnastics team final, and then on Thursday she won the bronze medal in the individual all-around. They've called it the "Redemption Tour" for Team USA, and indeed it felt like that - and it is inspiring to witness - perhaps especially for Lindsey Stirling. Here is a Tiktok posted by Stirling, watching Suni Lee perform in the Olympics - to her own "redemption" song:

@lindseystirling This was magical. Congrats to the women’s gymnastics team for killing it today #goldmedal#gymnastics#olympics? Eye Of The Untold Her - Lindsey Stirling

You might also like:

• Violinist.com interview with Lindsey Stirling: the Scene in the Song
• Interview: Lindsey Stirling Collaborates with Yamaha on New Violin
• Discussion: Musical instruments at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony

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