This Auburn University commit secured gold for Team USA at the 2021 Olympic Games
Auburn University commit Sunisa Lee, also known as Suni, is now golden.
Lee, 18, secured first place in the Olympic women’s all-around gymnastics Thursday morning with a final score of 57.433, surpassing Brazilian Rebeca Andrade and Russian Angelina Melnikova.
She is now part of an American legacy by becoming the fifth consecutive American woman to claim gymnastics’ biggest prize, joining Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin, Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles as Olympic gold medalists. She is also a member of a very exclusive group: only 16 women have won the Olympic all-around title.
Lee’s victory provided a bright spot in what has been a tough week for the U.S. women’s team. Lee’s teammate and defending all-around gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from Thursday’s individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Games to focus on her mental well-being, according to a statement released on the USA Gymnastics’ Twitter Wednesday. The organization said they supported Biles’ decision as she continues to be evaluated for next week’s events.
Lee, a St. Paul, Minnesota native, is a first-generation Hmong American and the first ever to qualify for the USA Gymnastics team. Migrating to the largest of 18 Hmong clans in the United States, Lee’s parent, John Lee and Yeev Thoj, made the journey from Laos, supporting Suni’s path to Olympic gold from the age of six, according to USA Today. Prior to the games, she trained at the Midwest Gymnastics Center in Minnesota.
The Tokyo Games are Lee’s first, and she also won a silver medal in the team competition.
She previously won three world championship medals, all from the 2019 event in Stuttgart, Germany. She won a team gold medal, an individual silver in floor exercise and an individual bronze on uneven bars.
Lee, who is committed to attend Auburn University, will head to the Plains to compete with the Tigers’ gymnastics team following the 2021 Toyko Games.
She isn’t the only Tiger in Tokyo. Former Auburn swimmer Zach Apple pulled away on the final leg of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay Monday to secure the gold medal for Team USA.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 10:17 AM.
