Spencer Lee's Father Explains Why Spencer Is Withdrawing From The US Open. 

Hope Spencer gets 100%, his perserverance thru the injuries in an extremely rough sport is inspiring. All the best my brother!

Beautiful moment at the end when his Dad's voice couldn't hide his emotions any longer. He just wants his son's body to hold together a little longer. That was beautiful.

You can see where Spencer gets his honor and integrity from. Mr. Lee, you've raised a son that motivates and inspires men nearly twice his age to try to lead by example, be more humble, make less excuses, think more positive & selflessly and to dream bigger while working even more wisely & diligently. May God bless you, Mrs. Lee and your son. I'm grateful y'all are Hawkeyes and helping Iowa wrestling grow in the right ways. 🤝

Mr. Lee should teach a master class in how to be the dad of a super elite athlete. Pretty classy guy. Spencer, you should be really proud of your dad.

Now I know why Spencer is a first class athlete, and a first class individual. Great interview Mr.Lee and Christian.

What a great interview. Larry seems like such a good person and a caring father. What else could anyone ask for except that kind of support from your parents in anything you do in life. Good luck to the whole Lee family. I pray you everyone gets plenty of rest, healing, and just have some relaxing times together.

What a difficult yet very honest interview by Mr Lee. It's no surprise why Spencer has always been such a champion on and off the mat. I can also relate 100% with the perspective of Mr Lee, some of the greatest people and life-long friendships can be made through wrestling but there's also a small percentage of people who show their true colors through their jealousy. I wish the best for Spencer and hope to see him back on the mat 100% healthy. 🙏

What a great father. Loads of integrity in the Lee family. It's no surprise Spencer is so successful with a support system like that at home.

What beautiful character on display. Mr Lee has dealt with so much this past month between spencer's loss and his wife's reaction being blasted everywhere and he's still standing tall for his family.

Spencer Lee is a stud and one of the best wrestlers of his time. He hit a rough patch and got some unfortunate injuries. It's really tough. Hes put in a ton of work for a very long time and it's heart breaking to lose. I'm a fan and wish him the best in healing and for his career. Good luck Spencer we're rooting for you.

I could never understand how anyone could have ever taken that Cathy video as anything but a beautiful representation of pure love for a child. It really hurts my heart that people suck so much that they turned what could have been looked at as such a pure and good moment, and turned it into something else. In fact, when I saw it happen live I thought “man… what a pure moment. Even if it is sad”. Now it just pisses me off that shitty people made Cathy feel so bad about that moment that she doesn’t even want to go to matches. I’ll never understand why people suck so much. ESP when they’re supposedly fans of the sport

Best interview, loved Spencer before but even more now, what a great father & mother, my heart will always be with the Lee team

[First comment] BRO NO!! All love for Spencer, but damn I was really rooting for him at the Open. I'm glad that he is taking more time to heal. More drilling and practice will be good for him. Spence needs more time to get healthy. *Edit* Teared up at the end and everything man... Being an athlete who can't compete in the sport they love is one of the hardest things. It's good knowing that Spencer is surrounded by such a loving family. I really feel for Spencer and the Lee family and I hope that recovery over this next year goes well for him.

May God bless Spencer and your family and we will pray for Spencer to heal!

Spencer you are an epic warrior ! In the sport of wrestling there is no easy way out. My love and prayers are with the Lee family...until the next whistle ❤️

Larry I'm mad at the wrestling community for saying things that have bothered your family this way. You say at the venue that night, wow. My son lost his HS state finals in OT and I felt that moment and I can't imagine if people had heckled me about it?!? Wow; Mean People Suck. Your son is a stud

What a nice dad. I wish my father had been so supportive. All the best to this dad an his family.

I was just logging on to see how the matches went today. This a bummer,but I hope he heals up and accomplishes his dreams

Get well Spencer Lee you put your body through a lot these past couple of years and especially this year. Let your body and mind heal so that you can make a great come back to win the Olympics. God bless this great wrestling family of the Lee’s

Good man. Good father. Good husband. As a father myself I’m very impressed by this interview. God bless.

Such great interview. Spencer is a great competitor and wrestler. I wish him a physical and mental recovery. To compete at his level it takes a toll on the body and mind. I appreciate all the great and entertaining performances he has given us to date!

Wishing Lee the best for recovery! He’s young and he should invest an year to focus on fully recovering before competing again.

Bummer! Health comes first though for sure. He is very young, and we'll have plenty of time to achieve his goals. Great job dad 👍👏👏

after that quarterfinals performance, if he wrestled nick he would've lost. the media would've went crazy if he lost again. i hope we get a chance to see him fulfill his highest potential

I have 100% faith in Spencer and his family. I hope the absolute best.

Some people's bodies just don't take a beating as well as others. God bless him for pushing through even though his body clearly didn't want to. Regardless of how far or how much more he wrestles, he's going to make one heck of a wrestling coach one day, perhaps even take over the program from the Brands brothers, who knows...

Master of public relations! World class interview by true professional. The wrestling world is rooting for Spencer to get healthy and hopefully will give more grace to this family. I know Larry, Kathy and Spencer personally and have been praying for them during this difficult season. So much media attention is difficult for anyone to deal with. Glad he did this interview.

Wonderful interview and candid. Way too many folks overly critical of this interview and about Spencer's recent health issues. He is a human. He is young. Not many of us in life have come close to the level of achievement and sacrifice (along with injury) Spencer has experienced, whether that is athletics, academics or professionally. Plenty of supporters and folks that understand Spencer and family. #HaveGrace

Lee's dad is such a calm sounding man.

Class act 👏, I hope Spencer recovers quickly.

Watching this is heartbreaking... I am happy he is getting his side of the story out though.

Wish him the best of luck getting healthy. It was apparent in his last match when his movement stopped that something was off. Sometimes your body is your biggest opponent.

Honestly, best of luck to Spencer and his family. Dude's a warrior who has conducted himself well. Wrestling could use a lot more understanding for the competitors.

Spencers Dad is what a true father should be like, he is gentle, protects his family's privacy and I can only assume is tough when it is needed including this moment where he is sharing in his son's disappointment. I wasnt at Spencers level but I got hurt when I was a freshman in high school. I was supposed to wrestle in the varsity district tournament and tore my shoulder. I made a choice to sit out to make sure my future wasnt messed with, I ended my career with a State Title because of that. Get well Spencer I am bummed like most of the comments I was looking forward to you throwing down. Time away doesnt mean the end of the road, just the begining of an awesome journey!

This was beautiful and well said, much respect and understanding to his family and hope we get the Spencer lee that will change the face of wrestling again , when he does come back

Let’s also keep in mind that despite having an injury, he still wrestled which also a factor why he is unable to recover PROPERLY. I feel like he’s a hard headed individual and can’t come to terms of him not being 100% recovered. I think another factor is due to the of outside pressure from fans and social media because cmon, who doesn’t want to see the #1 in the nation wrestle?

Good luck Spencer. Get heathy. Hoping for the best for you. Must respect to his dad for speaking out for his son and his wife. You did not have to share with us what you guys are going through. Thanks for sharing.

Great family right here, wish them nothing but the best

Love this family! Total class!

Great advocate for his son! Prayers for healing and hopeful for the future for Spencer!

Mr. Lee you're a solid guy.Thanks for the wisdom and hope Spencer can heal up and get another run.

Man I was really looking forward to this match

man, I was was really looking forward to lee vs suriano. hopefully lee can get healthy and in shape asap

Great people. Great father. I wish you all the best

Get well soon Spencer looking forward to seeing you wrestle in the future

What a heartbreaker… he’s got a good dad.

Hope Spencer heals up soon. I understand what he did. He's not ducking anyone. He just wanted to qualify for finalX. He did that and now he heals up. As some one who competed at a high level in combat sports. Wrestling is by far the hardest. Those people who are trying to crucify him. Just don't don't understand. Training, making weight, competing is a hard thing to do. He just came of a folk season and now is in a freestyle season. That's is a whole lot of work. I think if he was just doing freestyle where there is a lot more time between competition. Than I could understand the hate but that's just not the case. Give the young man some slack. He did what he needed to do and now he just moves on. Much respect to the other competitors and I wish them the best luck.

I appreciate his father coming on to do this interview. I believe more parents of high level athletes need to do interviews like this to provide a better insight than the popular media and the narrative they put out. It also allows the athletes to focus on what's important , wrestling, than doing all these silly interviews.

Fantastic interview! No, I didn’t almost shed a tear, I was chopping onions.

God bless Spencer and his family

Bummer. Outstanding interview. Thoughts for the Lees. 🙏

I’m so glad Spencer’s dad came out and spoke about Spencer and their family and the roller coaster of emotions that they’ve went through since nationals. After listening to him if you still have negative stuff to say you are just garbage human being. Heal up Spencer!!

Wow, very moving. Blessings to the family

Spencer lee is a great athlete and you sir are a great father there is no wonder were he gets his championship attitude from . LEE family supporter for life.

Good luck Spencer! Don't listen to the haters, you've accomplished more by 8th grade than most ever will.

A great explanation from Spenser's dad. Mom Lee, you are appreciated and your anguish is understandable. Sorry you were treated with such outward contempt for hurting for your son.

He has to learn to let things heal. Something rehab experts don't know is that one of the best training and rehab exercises is walking on rolling mountain trails with hiking sticks like the Trail Buddy using curved rubber Nordic tapered tips. If you do bleachers you can stand up the step and not have to balance vs mountain trail your whole body has to constantly balance itself. That teaches and helps you use the whole body to be in a perfect athletic position balancing and moving forward. The poles help keep the knees go forward without twisting slightly. This is the game changer not only for rehabbing and preventing knee injuries but for better body balance and position. Walter Payton and other RB's used hills to prevent career ending injuries while setting records. Hilly Mountains are better. Plus if there is a hilly mountain trail near you there is probably a book describing all the trails it has with distance and difficulty etc.. I have 2 books describing trails here in Arkansas.

Just wondering with what appears to be recurring knee injuries if 100% is possible. How many times can they be fixed? Great interview.

😢😢😢😢 Get yourself healthy Spencer! Don't let anyone take anything from you. I could see during NCAA's that Spencer wasn't healthy. He hasn't fully recovered from the 2 knee surgeries and anyone watching him can tell. He's a fucking warrior!!! Just get healthy and don't let anyone dictate what you do! You have absolutely nothing to answer for!!

For almost the entire interview, Pops reminds me of a politician lol... He's all talking in circles and platitudes without saying much of anything. "Win or lose, we have to go through the process...leave it all on the line..." etc. The most informative part was 30 seconds about Spencer's bond with his trainer. But all of a sudden at the end he gets real for a second saying his biggest wish is his son will be 100%. I guess that shows how driven his parents are, in case that wasn't already obvious. But it was a very honest moment. **also: you can't fault networks for filming Mom's meltdown-her reaction truly was like nothing Ive ever seen from a parent because it was so full of *rage* rather than sadness/despair. She may be a lovely individual in every way, but in that moment she exuded pure savage

Spencer is a competitor, and he hasn't been 100 percent in a long time. Don't knock this kid, he is a warrior and he is giving up his body to win. Spencer is a better person than people give him credit for. If he can ever get too 100 percent, nobody will touch him.

When they first happen with Spencer's mom I put up a big post defending her and their family and I still feel just as strongly! The time and sacrifice my parents gave for me was Unreal and I was only a one-time Cadet AA and two time Maryland state champ. And if people would have been talkin about my mom or dad who spent thousands of hours sitting on hard bleachers, driving all over the east coast regularly and sometimes more, and staying in all those motels instead of being home in their nice bed just for me to have those opportunities! I would have been irate, I take my hat off to Spencer for how he handled it. And anyone who is ever seriously been involved in wrestling knows the commitment it takes from the parents and for someone like Spencer who is a once-in-a-generation athlete its got to be a whole different level! And on top of it both of his parents War olympic-level athletes and I'm pretty sure his father even competed in them

I am in the same position that Spencer lee is in right now you may not know me but this go’s to show that it does not matter if your spencer lee or a kid on the Jv team you can get injured I hope 🤞 spencer lee get’s better soon 🔜

I pray for a full recovery for Spencer Lee, so we can see his full potential as a wrestler.

As someone who did not assume the worst, and gave Spencer the benefit of the doubt, it is still comforting to hear this level of open truth. It turns my stomach to think that people would actually give him and especially his family crap. Best to Spencer and his family.

The Lee family are good tough people.

I hope his mom comes back to a meet. I totally get her pain she felt. No ones mom deserves that.

Spencer is a stud, Mr Lee, he has nothing to prove to anyone except himself tell him, from all of us thx for the memories, rest get well, heal, and come back strong, he s not done yet,

Us as fans of this beautiful sport needed to hear the message he said from 6:00 forward. I’ve been getting after all y’all that started shitting on Spencer as soon as he lost. And our fans got really ugly after that and if it continues, we’re going to keep running guys out of our sport. Ya know we all pop off at the mouth with our full bellies and not having to worry about competing. And the fact is “we have no idea what is going on behind the scenes” Please don’t forget we’re talking about kids and young men that are still growing. Let’s keep it positive, lift up our sport with love, and be better fans. 🙏🏼

Spencer is a tremendous wrestler. It's sad to see soany people cheering against a guy instead of for his competitor. Much respect to Matt Ramos for winning in the semifinals after so many losses to Spencer Lee. This is a good but painful decision as Spencer looks to get healed and ramp up for the next stage of competition, which he'll be able to face at the right time.

I have no issues w Spencer pulling out of the field. But he's a grown ass man now, why is his daddy doing interviews for him?

Spencer just get healthy and ready for Olympics 2024 man I’ll be waiting and rooting for you honorable move man hope your doing good man!

I hate to think how his knees are doing since they were horrible even in high school. I hope he can recover to a true 100% and compete the way he truly used to to. Good luck and a speedy recovery Spencer!

Is the injury a secret or are we suppose to assume it’s his knee?

Nothing but respect. I love hearing a Dad speak about their child. He needed to do this interview to clear up some shit. Shit as in keyboard assholes. I have no doubt Spencer will be on the podium in ‘24

Idk Spencer, might be time to take time off to heal or just start focusing on something else. Maybe coaching? Your degree? Idk…anyways your always a 🐐🥂in my book. best of luck in life!

Bro noooo I was waiting to see suriano and lee wrestleeeee

Spencer Lee is a beast at his weight! He has no injuries, he's going to the Olympics, no doubt! Not making excuses for him, but the dude won a national title with NO Mcl's or acl's for 2 year in a row, he's got the heart and determination to be a champion! He's provin that! He'll definitely be back on top once he gets healthy!

Lee family is well put together. Can’t wait to see you make the Olympic team 2024 Spencer

Blessings to all the needed healing. May who he is be separately fine from what Spencer can do. Someday wrestling will end, but it is clear that he will be able to be amazing in whatever God calls him to do in life. All the best to the '24 and '28 hopes and all the other pieces of life that await.

clarity would probably help

That sucks I think him wrestling with no acls really messed up his legs. Not sure if that's on Spencer or the brands

He said he wasn't going go wrestle unless he was healthy. Smh don't walk though lesser comp then when it's time to wrestle forfeit.

I was too hard on Spencer when he withdrew from nationals... But, I was not hard on his mother for her reaction... I thought her response was beautiful in some ways because it showed how much she loved him and hurt for him in one moment.

Wonder if the injury is a full relapse or just pain. Really want this guy to get his chance in int'l tournaments.

Hmmm, At this point it appears that Spencer's body has given up and is not healing under his present rest/work regiment or, even,his body is telling him that it's trying to grow and he is fighting it to remain a little people and he should start eating like the madman that he is a d also Crack that pop top on the beer can. And Spencer is Blessed with a Great Family, And what a wonderful Interview with his Father. Get well Spencer 🙏.

Very true... Rest up and get healthy Spencer

You really don’t need too speak for your child’s actions that just shows your character as a father. Let your son speak for himself, Spencer said himself that he was not injured during the ncaa tournament..

A true gentleman...

WE LOVE BIG SPENCER LEE ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ BIG SHOUT OUT TO HIS PARENTS FOR CREATING A BEAST 😊

Dude seems like such a politician

I hope he heals up and gives his body time to recover..

He'll rise, just like a Phoenix. I can wait to see him wrestle.

He needs to step away to heal. He did not look right at the end of his match in the quarters...up 9-0 after the first and ending 9-4. The 2nd period he did not look normal. Now you know why he is a great athlete...he has a great dad.

Bro nothing I can imagine more crushing than that defeat at the NCAAs. Spencer gotta get healthy MENTALLY I think more than physically. I feel for him but c’mon bro stop quitting tournaments. Either go in fully or don’t show at all. I was looking forward to that battle with Nick. Wish him the best. Go Hawkeyes.

Sad day. What a great kid.

Sadly disappointed with this interview. Important questions were not asked? How did Spencer get injured? Whats the opinion of his doctors? Why sign a contract to 2028?

best of luck to Spencer! If he could have continued at all he would have. Get healthy and prove all the haters wrong!

Dang, maybe Spencer should lifted and just bumped to 133. In High school our strength coach said we lift first and foremost for injury prevention

Why would spencer wrestle through the first 2 rounds to withdraw? Didn’t wanna face Suriano or what