Kaylia Nemour of Algeria won the gold medal on the horizontal bar. Suni Lee won the bronze medal. : NPR

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Kaylia Nemour of Algeria won the gold medal on the horizontal bar. Suni Lee won the bronze medal. : NPR

Kaylia Nemour of Algeria won the gold medal in the women's uneven bars at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. It was the first medal for an African nation in gymnastics at the Olympics. Qiu Qiyuan of China won the silver and Suni Lee of the United States won the bronze.

Kaylia Nemour of Algeria won the gold medal in the women’s uneven bars at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. It was the first gymnastics medal for an African nation at the Olympics. Qiu Qiyuan of China won the silver and Suni Lee of the United States won the bronze.

Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images

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Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images

NPR is in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics. For more coverage of our games, visit our latest updates.

PARIS — American gymnast Suni Lee won a bronze medal on the Olympic uneven bars, her third medal of the 2024 Games and a remarkable end to her return to gymnastics after a sudden onset kidney disease last year threatened to end her career.

Simone Biles smiles with teammate Jordan Chiles after completing the uneven bars in the women's gymnastics team final at the Olympic Games in Paris.

In Sunday’s competition at the Bercy Arena in Paris, Lee finished behind Kaylia Nemour, 17, of Algeria, with a score of 15.7 that earned her the gold medal. Qiu Qiyuan, also 17, of China, scored 15.5 to win the silver medal.

The gold medal was especially meaningful for Nemour, who was born and raised in France. She began representing Algeria last year after the French Gymnastics Federation did not allow her to compete in 2021 following knee surgery. It was the first title for Algeria and any African gymnast at the Olympics.

The uneven bars is Lee’s strongest event. Her score of 14.8 is her second-highest score on the parallel bars at these Olympics, behind only her total score in the individual all-around, in which she also won bronze.

Lee, 21, was the last to perform. After seeing the high scores of her competitors, she decided not to increase the difficulty of the routines she performed last week, which could have given her a chance to win gold or silver. After completing her routine, she said she was very happy.

American gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik won a bronze medal in the vault final at the Olympic Games in Paris on Saturday.

“Honestly, it felt amazing to get it done. I was so nervous watching everyone,” Lee said afterward. “I got to watch everyone and that put a little pressure on me. But I’m really glad it happened, because I feel like I did everything I came here to do.”

After winning a surprise gold medal in the individual all-around at the Tokyo Olympics In 2021, Lee has turned his focus to returning to the Olympics in Paris.

But those plans seemed to be derailed early last year, when two serious kidney ailments forced her to retire early from her collegiate gymnastics career. The illness caused her to gain weight rapidly and swell so much that she had trouble bending her joints or holding the bar. At first, her doctors were baffled by the cause. At times, she believed she would never compete again.

Sunisa Lee of the United States celebrates winning the bronze medal in the women’s uneven bars on Sunday. It is her third medal of the Games and sixth Olympic medal overall.

Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images

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Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images

“I’m so, so glad that I never gave up, because there were so many times I thought about giving up and walking away from the sport because I didn’t think I would get to where I am today,” she shared in June after qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team.

Sunday’s bronze medal was Lee’s third and final medal of the 2024 Games after she won bronze in the individual all-around final and helped the United States win gold in the team event.