Who Is Suni Lee? Get to Know the Midwest Gymnast and Watch Her Epic Performance

Suni Lee stepped up in a big way when her teammates needed her most.

After Simone Biles made a surprising exit from the women's team final event, Lee, who has completed the most difficult uneven bars routine in the world, went big on the bars and added a high-scoring balance beam set to keep her team in medal contention.

The Minnesota native and Midwest Gymnastics Center athlete posted a 15.400, tying her with Belgium's Nina Derwael for the best score on the uneven bars. In the balance beam, Lee secured a score of 14.133, the second-best in that event of the competition.

Watch her incredible performance below:

"We did it for Simone," Lee said after the event.

Now, Lee is in prime position to contend for her first Olympic gold in the individual all-around, where she is again looking to fill a void as Biles remains out of the competition.

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Lee has already secured her spot in history as the first Hmong American to compete in the Olympics. And her road here was anything but easy.

In 2019, her father was in an accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. In 2020, she lost an aunt and uncle to COVID-19.

Lee secured her ticket Tokyo while pushing through an ankle injury.

Now, adding to the pressure is an American winning streak riding on Team USA.

The U.S. has won the all-around competition every Olympics since Carly Patterson won gold in the 2004 Games. 

Lee, who finished with the third-best all-around score in qualifying, will be in the medal mix. Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and a pair of gold medal winners from the Russian Olympic Committee in Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova will be in contention, as well.

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