At the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Sunisa "Suni" Lee made history as the first Hmong American Olympic gymnast champion. She took home the gold medal for Team U.S.A. in the women's gymnasticsindividual all-around competition, and when she did, her family erupted with total joy and utter excitement.
At the time, their heartwarming reactions to Suni's big gold moment made folks emotional:
Now back for her second time at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 21-year-old athlete from St. Paul, Minnesota will be competing for her second all-around title alongside fellow teammate Simone Biles. While she has the support of the world behind her, she has had support from her parents — father, John Lee, and mother, Yeev Thoj — the entire way. In fact, it was Suni's dad who helped the Olympian get her start in the world of gymnastics.
When she was seven, John repurposed an old mattress into a makeshift balance beam. It was on this homemade apparatus that Suni’s dad taught her how to do flips in their backyard, Elle reported in July 2021.
Throughout her competitive gymnastics career, Suni had heard pep talks from her dad before taking the floor. But this routine unexpectedly changed in August 2019, just two days before she was supposed to leave for the U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. While trimming a tree, John fell from a ladder and was left paralyzed from the chest down. He also suffered a broken wrist and fractured ribs.
But even so, John encouraged Suni to go ahead and compete. He made sure to FaceTime her beforehand, asking her to clear her mind and focus.
“I thought he was going to pass away when he was in the hospital, so I didn’t want to go to nationals and compete. But he told me to go, that he really wanted me to go. So I did,” Suni told The New York Times in August 2020. “Now I realize that if he didn’t push me like that, I wouldn’t be in the spot I am right now with the Olympics so close.”
With her father watching from his hospital bed, Suni dominated the competition and finished second right behind Simone. Suni went on to earn second place again at the U.S. World Championships Selection Camp.
“I knew he was watching me so I did great for him,” she said to The Times.
Fast forward to June 2021, Suni showed what a difference a year can make with her performance at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. In addition to getting one step closer to the Tokyo Summer Games, the occasion marked the first time in almost three years Suni’s dad was able to watch her compete in person. Suni placed second again, a third time behind Simone.
"It means a lot," John told USA Today in June 2021. "Especially now that Sunisa is getting close to the end of her (elite) gymnastics career and ... I’m able to come and watch it. It means a great deal … I just told her, 'Go out there, just go have fun, don’t worry about anything, just enjoy. Do your best.'"
At the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, Suni secured her spot on Team USA. Although her dad and the rest of her family were unable to attend the Summer Olympics in person due to COVID-19 restrictions in Tokyo, they were still proud of all her success.
"It's pretty amazing that she actually made it this far,” Yeev said on the Today show at the time. "I'm just super proud that she actually made it."
For Yeev, she understandably had a tough time keeping her nerves in check while watching her daughter. "When she does her routine, I usually hold my breath. I really don’t like to watch it," Yeev told Fox 9 KMSP in July 2021.
Now that Suni has the chance to defend her all-around gymnastics title in Paris, her parents finally have the ability to watch her do it in person. Given their unwavering support as she achieves her dreams, it makes sense that they would have so much pride over Suni's success. But, they're still cognizant of her needing to enjoy the sport she loves so much.
"[My dad] basically just told me to go out there and do what I normally do — not too much, and not too little because what I’ve been doing has been working obviously," Suni told USA Today in 2021.
We can't wait to watch!
Selena is the entertainment and news editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers the latest on TV, movies and celebrities. In addition to writing and editing entertainment news, she also spotlights the Hispanic and Latinx community through her work. She is a graduate of CUNY Hunter College with a B.A. in journalism and creative writing.
As the entertainment and news associate editor for Good Housekeeping, Adrianna (she/her) writes about everything TV, movies, music and pop culture. She graduated from Yeshiva University with a B.A. in journalism and a minor in business management. She covers shows like The Rookie, 9-1-1 and Grey's Anatomy, though when she’s not watching the latest show on Netflix, she’s taking martial arts or drinking way too much coffee.
