With Simone Biles’ withdrawal from the US Gymnastics’ group and all-around competitions at the Olympics, there could have been a vacuum, one which another country’s gymnasts could have exploited. Instead, an 18-year-old Hmong-American girl stepped up. Sunisa Lee is a first-generation Asian-American who grew up in Minnesota. Suni just won GOLD!
Sunisa Lee and Jade Carey just flipped and tumbled their way to Olympic success. Team USA gymnasts Lee and Carey finished the women’s gymnastics individual all-around in first and eighth, respectively on Thursday at the Ariake Gymnastics Center.
Lee ended the competition with 57.433, just ahead of silver medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil’s 57.298, and Russian Olympic committee’s Angelina Melnikova, who finished with 57.199.
After her win, Lee — who finished on floor — beamed and wiped away tears of joy as she hugged Carey and her coaches. Heading into the Games, she was the first Hmong American Olympic gymnast — now the first Hmong American Olympic gold medalist.
Lee, an 18-year-old from Minnesota, earned her spot in the individual all-around competition after her standout performance during the qualifiers, which she followed up in the team final with a score of 15.400 on the uneven bars. Earlier this year, Lee told PEOPLE that being an Olympian means “the world for me,” adding “I want to do it for my family and coaches obviously, but I also want to do it for myself. I’ve just been through so much.”
Jade Carey was the one who took Simone Biles’ place in the all-around competition, and each country can only submit two gymnasts for the all-around competition. Suni didn’t come out of nowhere – she, along with Jordan Chiles, is considered one of the heir apparents for Simone Biles. I’m so proud of her! Everyone should be!
The moment Suni Lee learned she'd won Olympic gold 🥇❤️ pic.twitter.com/U0lvpblPm0
— ESPN (@espn) July 29, 2021
Suni Lee’s father, up front, John, who built her a balance beam when they couldn’t afford one, was paralyzed falling from a ladder in 2019. She lost two relatives to COVID-19. Can only begin to imagine what this family has endured.
Their daughter is an Olympic champion today. https://t.co/9oBKzkCjBh
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) July 29, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Did you have to spoil it for us?
Not sure how you could avoid it. It’s on every newsfeed.
yes, it’s absolutely everywhere and I’m so very happy for her!!
Yeah, I heard it in my car, so…
That’s like getting mad at someone for “spoiling” who won the Super Bowl. This is the Olympics, not the Game of Thrones finale.
Fantastic! So proud of her!
Way to go Sunisa and good luck on the remaining events!!! 🙌🙌🙌🙌
Congrats Suni and everyone else on the podium.
Dude this hasn’t even aired in the US yet. You couldn’t keep the spoiler out of the headline?
It is on every single news feed it isn’t a spoiler
I watched it live on NBC’s Olympics website this morning on my computer and I’m on the East Coast of the US.
It’s literally on every newsfeed. It’s an international sporting event, not the finale of Grays Anatomy.
come on peeps, it’s ALL over the internet… please tell me this blog is not your only news source.
It’s on Google news.
Also watched it live (US); it was over by about 9 am EST, so in time, among other things, for Hoda to already have an interview with Suni for the Today show.
And the full replay has been up on the NBC Sports app for hours.
Yay!! I’m so excited for her. I didn’t watch the competition live but I am sure it will be on tonight.
I LOVE when the athletes know they’ve won gold. One of my favorite Olympic moments is when Aly Raisman was doing the floor routine – I think it was in the team all-around, but it may have been individual? And she nailed one “move” (sorry I dont know the correct terms) and she clearly knew by nailing that one it meant the gold, based on the rest of the routine and scoring etc, and her smile just LIT UP.
And while I get the comments re: spoilers, I know that I got an apple news alert as soon as she won, and its all over Facebook, IG and twitter, so Kaiser is far from the first to share the news.
I’m in the UK and saw this news an hour ago!
I remember that! Such a great moment for Aly (and speaking as a gymnast, yeah, sometimes you just KNOW. You know it so hard that you have to resist the temptation to incorporate a fist pump into your routine, and it’s an awesome feeling). I also have a soft spot for Aly because she made her floor routine a “fuck you” to the IOC for refusing to acknowledge the anniversary of the Munich massacre.
I have a soft spot for Aly too, and all the survivors of Nassar abuse. She spoke at his sentencing and her strength emanated. And her floor routine in London was amazing.
I love Aly (and her parents) and I loved that moment. I remember it well.
Good for her! Hope she’s able to pick up some lucrative endorsements. She clearly has a very supportive family behind her.
Yay for Suni!
So happy for her! Her routine on the uneven bars is amazing
I’m so happy for Suni! After everything she’s suffered in the past couple of years (her dad being paralyzed from the waist down after falling out of a tree in 2019, just the day before her senior debut, and she still competed! She also lost an uncle to COVID last year), no one deserves it more.
Yes to all. I just heard yesterday that piers Morgan is dragging Simone Biles for withdrawing from the Olympics. People are going for him.
What a dickhead. I’d like to see Piers Morgan try flipping through the air. Preferably right into an active volcano.
I’d like to see him run across the street in a rainstorm, let alone flip.
stop giving him attention!
It’s a bit rich considering how he reacted when a weatherman wasn’t nice enough to him
This is amazing for her. I love she was able to have this massive opportunity and hold the stage herself. She didn’t come out of nowhere and has been consistently great behind only Simone. She did that today!
I’m in the US and I woke up at 645 this morning to watch. Suni was outstanding! (Obviously.) Also congrats to Rebeca Andrade for being the first Brazilian to win a medal in gymnastics.
Just because the outcome is out there, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch. These women worked so hard (there’s a 32 year old in there!); they all did some amazing routines. I will probably watch it again tonight 🙂
I intend to watch.
Cannot wait to watch this tonight! CONGRATS TO SUNI!!!!!!!
I’m really excited for Rebeca Andrade, she didn’t even know that she was competing until a few months ago and had to overcome so many hardships to get where she is right now. This medal means a lot to Brazil and the sport in Latin America.
You couldn’t have buried the spoiler? I don’t have alerts on my phone, I’m not checking news sites, Instagram or Facebook. I thought I had done enough to avoid being spoiled. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see gymnastics results in a headline on a celebrity gossip site. I’ve seen other things carefully spoiler tagged before on this site. But here, It’s almost like you did it on purpose as though the results weren’t important once Simone was out of the competition.
Give me a mf break
So happy for Rebeca. A black woman, from very poor origins, raised by a single mother, and who danced on the floor with “baile de favela”, a funk music ,won silver medal. Made me tear up!
So happy for Sunisa! Her family’s joy was palpable. I might have teared up when I saw the alert this morning. Just so proud of her, especially knowing she’s the first Hmong American gymnast to compete and win gold. Congratulations!
Kudos to Rebeca too! I didn’t even realize Brazil was competing in the all-around. Congrats!
that video with her dad, so sweet. crying.
Congratulations to her! Was rooting for both her and the Brazilian gymnast Andrade so happy they both got the top medals.
Congrats Suni!
This is the other side of Simone dropping out – someone else had a chance to step up and shine. These are world-class athletes, there are always good competitors in the wings.
It popped up on my phone. It’s hard to avoid the spoilers! I am SO happy for Suni. She deserves every success she has achieved. I hope she gets the (sponsorship) recognition she deserves!!!! Well done!!!
Gymnastics is the most popular sport in the summer Olympics & it’s basically the biggest story lol. I think y’all will be okay.
So excited for Suni and proud of all her hard work! I don’t know if “Simone’s withdrawal” needs to be in the headline tho. She has had higher scores than Simone and could’ve done so again today. Don’t take it away from her or put an * next to her win!
I cried. Her story is so inspiring and she is an incredible athlete. I am so happy for her!!! I can’t wait for her to pick up another gold in a few days for the uneven bars. What a routine!!!!!!!!
I was wondering when Tim Daggett on NBC was ever going to notice that Suni scores above SImone in uneven bars, for instance. No, it was Simone, 6 gold medals! Never going to happen.
Heir apparent lol
I watch this live and I was so happy that she won, she kept it together even with close calls.
Also Rebeca Andrade, wow, what a performance! Take a bow!
The two British gymnasts, the Gadirova twins should also be proud of themselves for placing 10th and 13th.
It’s shallow but I’m going to add to all the mentioned superlatives and say she’s a really stunning young lady. People have said non-white looks aren’t traditionally as valued. But I can’t imagine between that and being a headliner with the win in one of the most visible and popular Olympic events she’s not going to have a ton of endorsement offers.
I hope she makes a ton of money! Due to recent changes in NCAA rules she should be able to attend and compete at the college she’s committed to (Auburn) and do endorsements.
I just want to say thats freaking awesome for Sunisa Lee, maybe people will stop abusing Simone Biles in the press (i know they wont though). But i am not super impressed with the flowers they were given. Kinda dinky. The Olympics couldn’t do better than that??
There’s actually special meaning behind those flower bouquets. If you google it, you’ll find a bunch of stories about it.