Sunisa Lee Earns Olympic Gold in Gymnastics Cementing Herself as a Superstar

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In a moment to celebrate, gymnast Sunisa (Suni) Lee earned the Olympic gold in the individual competition of women’s gymnastics at the 2020 summer Olympic Games. The 18-year-old from Minnesota was poised to take the top place at the podium after her teammate Simone Biles—a favorite to win—withdrew from the competition in order to care for her mental health.

Lee’s win marks the fifth Olympic gold in a row for the United States in the individual all-around event. “I was nervous, but I did my best, and I'm super proud of myself,” Lee told reporters. “It's crazy. I didn't ever think I'd be here.”

Once Biles dropped out of the event, Lee realized that the gold medal was within her reach. But, she tried not to dwell on the possibility and decided to perform her best. “This whole season I've been second to her. So I just did what I do best, didn't focus on it, though, because I knew I'd get in my head.”

Lee is an exceptional gymnast and is known for her amazing uneven bar routines. She shined during this portion of the event and beat all of the other contenders while performing a routine with the highest degree of difficulty. “I just told myself to just do what I normally do, because when I was kind of getting in my head, I was messing up my bar routine a little bit,” she explained. “This week has not been easy on bars but I pulled myself together and I just stayed focused.”

Crowd reacts as Suni Lee wins gold In the all around #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/q6INDMT8y8

— Peter Cox (@peterncox) July 29, 2021

Lee’s supporters, of course, are ecstatic about her win. She’s not only the fifth American to win a gold medal in individual all-around, but she’s the first Hmong American to make the U.S. Olympic team. Her family and fans were watching her win the gold and filmed their reaction to her win—one of pure joy.

And what did Biles have to say about it? “[You] absolutely killed it!!!” She wrote to Lee in a post on Instagram. “OLYMPIC CHAMPION RIGHT HERE!!! So so so beyond proud of you!!!!”