A supportive family helped Suni Lee become an Olympic athlete
Suni Lee is a Team USA gymnast from Minnesota. Now 21 years old, she is a college student.
Born Sunisa Phabsomphou, Suni is the first American of Hmong descent to compete in the Olympics. Her parents immigrated to the US from Laos.
When Suni was only two years old, her mother, Yeev, met John Lee. John was at the time recently divorced and had two children of his own.
Suni considers John to be her father, even changing her last name to match his, though he and Yeev never married.
Sunisa Lee of Team United States practices on the balance beam during a Gymnastics training session in the Bercy Arena ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 25, 2024. (Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images)After the Tokyo Olympics, the immensely proud John Lee told the Today Show that he had built a wooden balance beam in the backyard for Suni to use for practice.
“She goes to the gym and she practices but we don’t have a beam here,” he explained. “So, I couldn’t afford a real beam, so I built her one.”
This was when she was younger. However, her father explained: “The beam is still there.”
Suni Lee reacts after her floor routine on Day Four of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Gymnastics Trials at Target Center on June 30, 2024. (Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images)Both Suni Lee and dad John Lee recovered from accidents that left hem injured
Suni Lee’s 2021 gold medal came only after years of work and recovery. She had suffered a leg and foot injury that took her out of action for two months.
In 2019, dad John Lee suffered a catastrophic — and less unusual — injury with dire results.
He had fallen off of a ladder. The resulting injuries caused paralysis from the chest down. That is a life-altering catastrophe.
Sunisa Lee of Team United States practices on the balance beam during a Gymnastics training session in the Bercy Arena ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 25, 2024. (Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images)John Lee’s grievous fall happened just before Suni competed in Kansas City for the national championships.
Suni was considering dropping out, feeling concerned for her injured dad after his accident. However, he encouraged her to go.
She did, and she placed second only to the legendary Simone Biles. When Suni won gold on the uneven bars at the 2019 US Championships (dealing with her own injury, no less), she dedicated that triumph to her dad.
Suni Lee, Simone Biles, Hezly Rivera, Jordan Chiles, and Jade Carey pose after being selected for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team on Day Four of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Gymnastics Trials at Target Center on June 30, 2024. (Photo Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)Though John Lee’s injurious fall was terrible, he survived to cheer on his daughter through the 2021 Olympics. And, now for the 2024 Olympics.
Suni Lee knows that her dad didn’t let his accident cause his support for her to waver.
Her whole family is beaming with pride as she competes in Paris. And so is all of America.