For all that Muna Lee accomplished at LSU, one thing is still missing – for now.
Lee exited as one of the most decorated track and field athletes in school history, winning seven NCAA event titles and earning 20 All-America honors in four seasons with the Lady Tigers from 2001-04. That momentum has carried over into a professional career in which Lee has flourished as one of the world’s leading sprinters while competing at the Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008.
But the schedule that has come with her success on the track has prevented her from reaching one of her biggest goals off the track.
“I always wanted to come back and finish my degree,” Lee said. “It was just a matter of when I’d have time to do it outside of track.”
That opportunity presented itself during the 2010 indoor season when a hamstring injury left Lee with a grueling rehabilitation in order to get back up to speed.
“I had just gotten over a hamstring injury. I was doing really well, but I restrained it. It was just too hard to catch back up with everybody,” Lee said. “With the injury, it was perfect timing.”
With just 24 credits shy of earning her degree, Lee switched her major from fashion design to general studies to allow her to graduate by May 2011. Despite the switch, Lee still plans to pursue a career in the fashion industry when her track career comes to an end – even if it means a second degree.
“Hopefully I can go into something that has to do with fashion,” Lee said. “It’s just disappointing that I won’t have a degree in fashion because I want to actually work in that industry, but I figured I can always go back to school if I need to.”
Returning to school half a decade later would be a daunting task for anyone, but Lee said she has only encountered one problem thus far.
“I have horrible study habits,” she said. “I didn’t have good ones when I was here, but now it’s been five years and I’m trying to get back into things. It’s really hard, but I have a better memory now. It’s been a little bit of a challenge.”
She also enjoys the benefit of a less demanding schedule that in her days as a scholarship athlete.
“It’s a lot easier, just because I don’t have a lot of pressure on me to run fast,” Lee said. “I do not have to go to study hall and practice, so I’m not exhausted every day. It’s a lot better now.”
Once she completes her degree, Lee’s focus will return to sprinting and the one goal of achieving Olympic glory. She reached the finals of both the 100 meters and 200 meters in Beijing only two years ago, but finished just out of medal contention with a fifth place in the 100 and fourth place in the 200. In fact, the margin separating her from a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash was just one one-hundredth of a second.
As time passes, she understands that the 2012 Olympic Games in London may be her last shot.
“I’m pretty sure the next Olympics will probably be my last because I’m a lot older,” she said. “I can compete for six more years. It’s just a matter of if I want to. Right now, I’m not so sure.”
Lee’s experience in 2008 has left her considering an alternative strategy for the remainder of her career. She was one of only three competitors to make the 100-meter and 200-meter finals at the Beijing Games, leaving her more fatigued than her competitors who specialized in one event.
“I’m always so close to medaling, but I run so many events that I’m debating whether I want to double or not in the next Olympics,” she said. “If everybody else was doing that too, I don’t think they would run as fast either. It just shows how powerful I am, because I run both and I still place high in the races.”
The thought of focusing on just one event has left her torn between selecting either her best event or the more popular one.
“I’m actually better in the 200, but I’ve never focused on it,” Lee said. “It’s not one of the premier events. More money comes out of the 100. I really want to win in the 200, but the 100 is where the money is.”
Lee’s travels may have prevented her from earning a degree sooner, but they also helped provide the inspiration for her post-track career.
“It’s great to meet so many different people, and so many people actually watching track. You also get to go around the world and see all the fashion. I love it,” she said. “I really want to get in runway stuff and actually have a clothing line. I supposedly have a line coming out in October, but it’s really hard to focus on so many things like trying to get back ready for track and getting all the designs.”
Lee is also focused on giving back to the community and recently launched the Muna Lee Foundation (www.munaleefoundation.org), which provides scholarships to high school seniors and clothes and track spikes to younger runners.
Lee seems at ease balancing the many facets of her life, keeping up in her training, recovery and her foundation work while finishing her degree. It’s a skill that should never go unnoticed, especially as she keeps her eye on her ultimate goal of winning an Olympic medal.