Meet Sunisa Lee, Olympics Gold Medallist Gymnast Who Overcame More Than Just Hurdles

Who Is Sunisa Lee? Being the first Hmong American, Lee became the first one from her community to bag gold at Olympics on July 29. Following the withdrawal of Simone Biles, Lee was burdened with the pressure of carrying forward her winning streak, however, she excelled at the expectations after bringing in the country's fifth consecutive gold medal ( sixth overall).

Also a member of the gymnastic teams that won gold at the 2019 World Championships and silver at the 2020 Olympic Games, the 18-year-old artistic gymnast won her individual medal on Wednesday.

Lee's won the gold medal while Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade bagged silver and Russia's Angelina Melnikova, who won bronze at the all-rounder gymnast event.

On winning her first Olympic gold, Lee said, "It feels crazy, it is so surreal, It’s a dream come true. I don’t even know what to say. It hasn’t even sunk in."

She added that her experience with COVID-19 during the past two years was crazy and she even considered quitting at a time.

Who Is Sunisa Lee?

Hailing from St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota, a state in the US, Lee was born to a healthcare worker. The gymnast is of the Hmong community, as both of her parents immigrated from Laos, to the US.

One of her five siblings Evionn is also a gymnast who competed in artistic gymnastics at the regional level.

Lee started gymnastics at the age of six began competing and won the all-around at a state meet, the second meet of her career. She moved up three levels when she was eight years old and qualified for the elite at eleven years old.

Sunisa Lee Battling Depression

Reportedly, Lee's journey to the gold medal saw a lot of hitches. When the Tokyo Games was postponed in 2019, Lee suffered from depression and also broke her foot. The injury made her set back from training for three months.

Lee's father met with an accident when she was going to compete for the nationals in 2019. He has still paralysed waist down and in a wheelchair. The following year, Lee's uncle and aunt succumbed to the coronavirus. However, Lee said that she was stronger in her career because of it.

Sunisa Lee On Simone Biles

Simone Biles withdrew from the competition concerning some mental health issues. Biles took to her official Instagram account to share a video of Lee flaunting her Gold and congratulated her.

After Biles' withdrawal, Lee was burdened with a lot of pressure of expectations as she said, "The most pressure I’ve ever felt in my life."

Following Lee's historic win, she took to her official Instagram account and shared a picture of herself with Biles, flaunting their medals. In the caption, she wrote, "thank you for being a role model and someone I look up to every single day."

She added, "you not only inspire me as a gymnast but as a person as well."