Sunisa Lee, the first Asian-American artistic gymnast woman to win an Olympic gold medal, will represent the United States national team at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris despite suffering from kidney disease.
Suni Lee, born Sunisa Phabsomphou in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is famous for her outstanding gymnastic performances in many international competitions.
She gained widespread recognition for winning the gold medal in the all-around competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, making her the first Hmong-American Olympic athlete to win the title.
Lee’s contribution has also helped Team USA to win several bronze and silver medals at the World Championships.
More than just a gymnast, Suni has emerged as a hope and inspiration for young athletes, especially those from her ethnic background, as she proudly represents her Hmong community in the Olympics.
Regarding her ethnicity, Suni Lee’s family is deeply rooted in the Hmong community and has ancestral ties to Laos, a landlocked country in western Vietnam.
Suni Lee’s mother, Yeev Thoj, immigrated to the US as a child
Suni Lee’s mother, Yeev Thoj, is a refugee who immigrated to the United States from Laos after the Vietnam War and started to live in St.Paul, Minnesota.
After settling in Minnesota, Yeev Thoj started dating John Lee, who was also of Hmong descent. The couple raised Suni Lee together when she was 2 years old.
Though her parents, Yeev and John Lee, are not officially married, Suni Lee considers John her father, and she began using his surname professionally from a very young age.
Regarding her biological father, there is no information about her birth father available.
Furthermore, John Lee has been a constant source of support for Suni Lee. At age six, he introduced Suni to gymnastics and built her a balance beam from a mattress.
Recognizing Suni’s passion for gymnastics at an early age, her parents wasted no time enrolling her at the Midwest Gymnastics Center in Little Canada, Minnesota. Here, she began her training under the guidance of coach Punnarith Koy.
In an interview in 2023, Suni’s parents talked about their daughter, stating how proud they are of her. John said that the people from their Hmong community were very supportive and excited to see Suni competing in the summer Olympics in Paris.
Additional Information
- Suni Lee’s mother, Yeev Thoj, is an associate care manager at UCare Minnesota in Hugo, Minnesota, United States. Her father, John Lee, worked at Cummins and graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato.
- In 2019, Suni Lee’s father, John Lee, was paralyzed from the chest down after he fell from a ladder while helping a neighbor; the tragic incident happened two days before Suni’s US National Gymnastics Championships. Despite suffering from such a tragic incident, her father insisted she compete in the game where she won silver.
- Suni has three half-siblings from her mother’s relationship with John, Evionn, Lucky, and Noah, and two step-siblings from John’s previous relationship, Jonah and Shyenne Lee. Evionn also competed in gymnastics at the regional level.
