Sunisa Lee

Sunisa "Suni" Lee (born Sunisa Phabsomphou; March 9, 2003) is an American artistic gymnast.

Sunisa Lee was born Sunisa Phabsomphou on March 9, 2003, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Yeev Thoj, a healthcare worker.

Lee is of Hmong descent, and her mother, a refugee, immigrated to the United States from Laos as a child.

Lee was raised by her mother's longtime partner, John Lee, from the age of two and considers him to be her father.

She began using his surname professionally as a teenager.

Lee has three half-siblings through her mother's relationship with Lee, and Lee had two children from a previous relationship.

Her sister Evionn also competed in artistic gymnastics at the regional level.

Lee's interest in gymnastics was initially piqued at age six after watching footage of Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson on YouTube, and her father built a balance beam for her from a mattress.

When Lee later started doing backflips outdoors, it became clear to her parents that she needed a safer venue to hone her skills in.

They registered her for gymnastics classes at Midwest Gymnastics Center in Little Canada, Minnesota, where she started training under the tutelage of coach Punnarith Koy.

The following year, Lee began competing and won the all-around at a state meet, the second competition of her career.

At age eight, she moved up three levels, and she qualified for elite at age 11.

Koy coached Lee between the age of six to about twelve before Jess Graba, who has been coaching her ever since, took over.

Lee competed in the Hopes division in 2015, became a junior elite in 2016, and made her junior elite debut at the 2016 U.S. Classic.

She earned a spot on the junior national team in 2017 and debuted internationally at the Gymnix International Junior Cup where the U.S. team won the gold medal in the team event.

Lee captured the silver on uneven bars.

In May 2017, Lee announced her verbal commitment to Auburn University on a gymnastics scholarship.

Lee was named to the team to compete at the 2018 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships that took place in April, 2018.

She won gold with the U.S. team in the team final and went on to secure the silver medal on vault, balance beam, and in the floor exercise.

She placed 4th in the all-around.

A month later, she withdrew from the Pan American Junior Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after sustaining an ankle injury.

In July 2018, Lee competed at the 2018 U.S. Classic where she finished fifth in the all-around and won the gold medal on balance beam despite not doing a dismount.

She was one of the favorites for the national junior title along with Leanne Wong, Jordan Bowers, and Kayla DiCello heading into the 2018 U.S. Championships in Boston and came third in the all-around behind Wong and DiCello.

She won gold on the uneven bars.

She was a member of the teams that won gold at the 2019 World Championships and silver at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Lee is the first Hmong-American Olympian.

She is also reported to be the first woman of Asian descent and first Asian American woman to win the Olympic all-around title.

She is a six-time member of the U.S. women's national gymnastics team, and with six world championship and Olympic medals, she is tied with Gabby Douglas, Kim Zmeskal, Kyla Ross, and Rebecca Bross as the tenth-most-decorated American female gymnast.

Lee has received numerous honors and awards.

In 2021, she was named Female Athlete of the Year by Sports Illustrated, named Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation, and included in Time 100, Time 's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

She also received an Asia Game Changer Award.

Lee made her international senior debut at the 2019 City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy where she won the all-around title and took home the gold with the U.S. team in the team final.

In the event finals, she placed first on the uneven bars and on floor, and third on the balance beam behind reigning world champion Liu Tingting of China and teammate Emma Malabuyo.

Lee won the silver on beam at the 2019 American Classic in June and finished fifth on bars after falling off twice.

After the conclusion of the event, Lee was among the eight athletes under consideration for the team to be fielded at the 2019 Pan American Games, but would have to compete at the 2019 U.S. Classic to secure her place.

In the end, Lee was not named to the team after placing second on bars and tying for eighth on beam at U.S. Classic.

It was a year plagued by injuries.

Lee injured her ankle and sustained a hairline fracture to her left tibia after a dismount from the balance beam.

She was still recovering from her injuries by the time the 2019 U.S. Championships rolled around in August.

Lee is the 2020 Olympic all-around champion and uneven bars bronze medalist, the 2019 world championship silver medalist on the floor and bronze medalist on uneven bars.