Gymnast Suni Lee makes historic debut at Olympics

26 Jul 2021

Axios

Gymnast Suni Lee makes historic debut at Olympics

The 18-year-old is the first Hmong American to represent the U.S. at the Olympics.

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Sunisa Lee competes in the floor event of the artistic gymnastic women's qualification at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Loic Venance

When Sunisa "Suni" Lee steps up to the mat at the Tokyo Olympics, she'll be thinking of her father's pep talks even as he watches from thousands of miles away.

The big picture: The 18-year-old made history this year when she became the first Hmong American to be named to a U.S. Olympic team. Even more special was her dad's presence in the crowd at the Olympic trials — it was only the second time he watched her compete in person since a 2019 accident paralyzed him from the chest down.

The years after his accident were rough on Lee and her family. In 2020, she broke her foot, battled a COVID-19 scare and lost her aunt and uncle.
But she didn't give up, pushing herself through the pain leading up to Tokyo. At June's Olympic trials, she became the first gymnast to beat teammate Simone Biles in any phase of an all-around meet since 2013, per USA Today.

When to watch:

Qualifications: The U.S. advanced to the team final, but had an uncharacteristically rough day, finishing behind the Russian Olympic Committee in the qualifier.

Lee also qualified for the all-around, as well as the balance beam and uneven bars event finals.
Watch the replay Sunday on NBC starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Women's team final: July 27 at 6:45 a.m. ET
Women’s individual all-around: July 29 at 6:50 a.m. ET
Event finals: Aug. 1-3, starting every day at 4 a.m. ET

What she's saying:

Pep talks from her father, who got a computer just so he could watch her compete, continue to motivate Lee, she told People earlier this month: "[He tells me] to go out there and do my best and to just do what I do."
Representing Hmong Americans is also an inspiration. It "means a lot to the Hmong community ... and to just be an inspiration to other Hmong people [means] a lot to me too," she said, per the Sahan Journal.

Competitive record...

2021 Olympic trials: Lee came in first on the uneven bars and balance beam competitions, clinching second place in the all-around behind Simone Biles.
2021 U.S. Gymnastic Championships: Lee won the silver behind Biles in the all-around and balance beam. She overtook Biles on uneven bars, winning gold.
2019 World Championships: Lee was a member of Team USA, which beat Russia and Italy to win gold.

Photo of Suni Lee swinging in the air in a red uniform upside down over a bar — Suni Lee competes on the uneven bars during the women's competition of the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Olympic trials on June 27 in St. Louis, Mo. Photo: Carmen Mandato via Getty Images

Go deeper: Asian American Olympians face racism at home

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the results from the qualifiers.