Suni Lee

Sunisa “Suni” Lee grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and started gymnastics at six after watching the sport on television. She developed at Midwest Gymnastics Center under Jess Graba and Ali Lim, the coaches who would guide her from junior meets to an Olympic all-around title. Lee was raised by her mother, Yeev Thoj, a Hmong refugee who came to the United States from Laos as a child, and John Lee, whose surname she began using professionally as a teenager.

Her senior breakthrough came at the 2019 World Championships, where she won team gold and individual medals on floor and uneven bars. Two years later in Tokyo, Lee held together the best all-around meet of her life after Simone Biles withdrew from the final. She won gold, added team silver and bars bronze, then went to Auburn and became an NCAA champion on balance beam — proof that the same athlete could carry both elite and college pressure.

A kidney condition cut short her college career and made the Paris Olympics an uncertain target. Lee recovered in time to earn three more medals there: team gold and bronze in the all-around and on bars. Beam remained unfinished business; she reached the final in Tokyo and Paris without landing on the podium. After stepping away from competition and moving to New York, she returned to Midwest in July 2026 to begin training for Los Angeles 2028, with coaches aiming for a competitive return in 2027.

Lee is already the first Hmong American Olympian and one of the most decorated U.S. gymnasts of her generation. A third Games would give her another shot at the beam medal that escaped her twice, but the comeback starts with a more basic test: rebuilding competition routines after two years away and deciding how much of the old difficulty still belongs in her body.