- Suni Lee’s abilities in her chosen sport were evident from a very young age.
- She faced some family difficulties before partaking in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
- Suni took a break from her career when she became ill but eventually found her way back and now has the support of her idol.
One of the athletes people are rooting for at the 2024 Paris Olympics is the US artistic gymnast, Sunisa “Suni” Lee. The star almost didn’t make it into the 2024 Olympics because of a serious diagnosis. But with her parents’ support and the right medication, she made her comeback. Here’s a little about her background.
Suni’s Background
Suni was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on March 9, 2003. According to the 2024 Paris Olympics website, the athlete’s mother is Yeev Thoj. She has been in a long-term relationship with Suni’s stepfather, John Lee, since the star was two.
The athlete has half-siblings Evionn, Lucky, and Noah from her mother’s relationship with John. John entered the relationship with Yeev, bringing three children of his own. Suni’s step-siblings are Jonah and Shyenne.
The star started getting into gymnastics at a very young age. Her parents’ friend initially asked if the little girl was doing the sport when they saw her tumbling around the backyard and house. A family friend helped her parents meet a Midwest Gymnastics Center coach who guided them. In 2017, Yeev recalled, “They tested her a little bit, and then he said, ‘OK, we’ll just keep her.'”
Suni was six when she started her training at the Little Canada Center. Since the start of her successful career, the gymnast has received several honors.
In addition to her medals, Minnesota’s governor paid tribute to the star by declaring July 30, 2023, “Suni Lee Day.” Saint Paul’s mayor also declared the same thing for the city. A bronze bust of the 21-year-old was unveiled at a park during a celebration.
In 2021, Suni won Sports Illustrated Female Athlete of the Year. The following year she was declared the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Individual Sportswoman of the Year.
Besides gymnastics, the star’s hobbies include camping and fishing. Before participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics, the athlete partook in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. There she won a significant medal after her idol pulled out of the games.
Suni’s Journey to Her 2020 Tokyo Olympics Win
Before taking part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Suni faced some challenges that could’ve caused her to pull out. Two days before 2019’s US National Gymnastics Championships, John fell off a ladder while helping a neighbor trim a tree.
He became partially paralyzed from the chest down. But his daughter still chose to compete and came second to her idol, US’ Simone Biles. The proud father was watching in the stands when his daughter secured her Tokyo Olympics spot.
Unfortunately, the gymnast’s family also lost loved ones to the virus. Still, this is what her proud mother had to say at the time, “It’s pretty amazing that she actually made it this far.” The parent added, “I’m just super proud that she actually made it.”
Suni’s dedication paid off at the Tokyo Olympic Games, but her parents sadly couldn’t watch her live. At the time, the Olympic organizers announced that spectators were barred from attending most events.
The measure was taken after Tokyo declared a state of emergency due to the pandemic. Yet, a YouTube video showed her parents, family, friends, and community members celebrating at a hall when the athlete nabbed the gold medal.
During the competition, Simone, who has a sister who is also a gymnast, was expected to win a gold medal in gymnastics. But she shocked the world when she withdrew due to mental health issues. Simone said a mental block caused her to “feel unsafe” to perform her twists and flips.
Instead, Suni ended up taking over from her gymnastics hero, and in July 2021, she won the Olympic all-around title. She became the sixth overall and fifth consecutive American woman to win the gymnastics Olympic gold.
The athlete joined the ranks of previous winners Simone, Nastia Liukin, Carly Patterson, and Gabby Douglas. Speaking about her win at the time, the gymnast revealed that she was thinking of her father “the whole time.”
She noted how she had performed for him knowing he’d be “so proud.” Unfortunately, being famous wasn’t an easy role for Suni as it came with scary behaviors from some die-hard fans. She also personally doubted her abilities, especially because of people’s criticisms.
Suni’s Struggles with Fame and her Accolades
Sadly, the Tokyo Games win was bittersweet as it came with attention that the then 18-year-old wasn’t prepared for. The celebrity status was something that Suni, who is from the conservative Hmong community in Minnesota, didn’t want.
Her fame attracted stalkers. One of her coaches revealed that one of the stalkers tried tracking the athlete in three different states. According to her coaches, a Hmong man followed the gymnast from Minnesota.
The man in his 40s or 50s also arrived looking for her at Midwest Gymnastics in Little Canada and Suni’s coach, Jess Graba’s gym.
Additionally, when Suni was a member of the gymnast team at Auburn University for two years, she found the attention on her to be smothering. It got so bad that she avoided going to campus by taking online classes from her bedroom.
In 2024, the star was still struggling with accepting her fame. She revealed that she missed her old and normal life. Yeev’s daughter even felt, as online critics told her, that she hadn’t deserved to win an Olympic gold medal.
She explained, “So when you see it from other people and that many people are saying the same thing over and over and that I just suck and all this stuff, it’s like very hard mentally.” The athlete even left home and surprisingly partook in a well-known television competition.
Leaving Home and Starring on Television
After her Tokyo Olympic Games win, Suni left her hometown and went to college in Auburn despite her parents’ disapproval. Yeev and John, who are Hmong immigrants who escaped Laos after the Vietnam War, had envisioned something else for her after the Olympics.
John wanted his daughter to stay in Minnesota, work, and go to school. From his cultural background, he was used to Hmong girls staying at home with their parents until marriage. Going off on adventures was a foreign concept for him.
The gymnast had barely settled in Auburn before relocating to Los Angeles. Although she struggles with fame, she spent a few months competing in “Dancing with the Stars,” where she finished in fifth place.
Being in Auburn was the first time that Suni lived alone, with Coach Jess saying the fridge in her two-bedroom apartment “reflected that.” The fridge had Uber Eats deliveries that still had forks in the containers.
She also had unopened packages that were days old. They sat on her doorstep for hours due to her being called in for dance practice unexpectedly. The star opened herself up to fame by doing television shows on both coasts and by attending the Met Gala.
Like her parents, Coach Jess didn’t agree with Suni’s staying in Los Angeles. He stated, “Nothing was conducive for a young, young kid to be in Hollywood by herself and be happy and thrive there.”
Sadly, Suni became ill and her diagnosis came with challenges that the athlete had to overcome.
What Happened to Suni When She Got Sick?
When she became sick and before getting her diagnosis, Suni stopped training for the Paris Olympics. The star also canceled her promotional work. The star became anxious because she needed to do something to provide for herself and her siblings for whom she’d opened college savings.
The gymnast became frugal with whatever money she had left. She relocated back to Minnesota but got an apartment and Bean, an Australian Shepherd. The athlete spent days in bed cuddling her pet and crying into his fur.
Recalling the time, Coach Jess said, “I think a lot of it for her, too, was … she didn’t have a purpose.” The longtime coach noted that when one doesn’t have a purpose, it’s hard to find a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
She became depressed and lonely and often cried herself to sleep. Suni spent weeks on bed rest and took five months off. During that time, the five-foot frame star gained 45 pounds before returning to the gym.
Besides her diagnosis, the gymnast also suffered from skin issues. She spoke about it before, noting how isolating it can be to deal with eczema or flare-ups. Suni wanted people suffering from the same issue not to feel alone and that it “does not define you.”
She said dealing with it constantly, sufferers probably think others are looking and staring at it. But the truth is that “I don’t really think anyone’s looking that hard.” While she’s faced challenges before, what she discovered about her illness in 2023 almost ended her career.
Dealing with Illnesses That Almost Concluded Her Career
At age 20 in August 2023, Suni partook in the balance beam and vault competition in the US Classic and Championships. Sadly, like her idol, she had to withdraw from Team USA’s World Championships and Pan Am Games selection competition a month later.
The move meant her season was done but it started a challenging five-month period that she only emerged from around February 2024. Suni revealed that she hit a “rough patch” being in and out of the gym during that period.
She said it was more of a mental thing, but she also tried to figure out her health. The star tried being as healthy as possible before starting 2024 because she didn’t want to worry about it much.
She also said she ensured “that I was going into remission and not going to have a little break out before a big meet.” What she was referring to was the nearly one year that she spent adjusting to a kidney-related health issue.
In March 2023, she suddenly became sick with an unknown condition that caused her to retain 40 pounds of water. It was later diagnosed as two kidney-related conditions she doesn’t want to name. They led to the possibility of her not partaking in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
After the doctors told her she might never do gymnastics again, the gymnast struggled to find motivation as she remained frustrated by her health. The ailment caused an early end to her NCAA career at Auburn University.
Months later she was unable to feature in the international competition. Not being able to do gymnastics caused Suni to become depressed because she couldn’t attend practice. The star later confessed that she didn’t spend the time doing anything good for her.
She explained, “I was just kind of rotting in my bed and hoping that it would all go away.” But things were better by February 2024. Suni still visited doctors every few weeks and she got an infusion but her progression to healing was good.
What the athlete didn’t know was that kidney problems were hereditary. Yeev revealed that her brother (Suni’s uncle) passed on from kidney failure at 45. Her mother, Suni’s grandmother, died of the same ailment when she was “a little bit over 60.”
Despite the challenges, the gymnast is doing better. Each day she wakes up now, she feels fine. She added, “I also have been doing this for long enough now, I think, to know the right time to take my medicine, to be able to be perfect for in the morning.” She’s since gotten back to a consistent training regiment.
Ahead of her February 2024 debut at the Winter Cup in Louisville, Kentucky, Suni shared some good news. She revealed, “I’ve been back in the gym every single day, eight hours a day, and it’s been going pretty well.”
Mayo Clinic doctors tried controlling her symptoms with different drug combinations. But any change came with side effects like exhaustion and weight gain. Now Suni takes medicine for her diagnosis daily but explained that it isn’t an illness that she can take a pill for and become better.
Getting Back into the Game
Suni’s return to the sport was in August 2023, as mentioned before. But, after announcing her return to the Olympics, she had fears yet she knew she couldn’t pull out. The star switched the way she thought and questioned why she was doing it for everyone else because that was the wrong reason.
The same month she returned to gymnastics, she took to Instagram to share a picture of herself being encouraged by someone and a video of her performing. She said she felt blessed and grateful and that her comeback was more than her returning to elite gymnastics.
It was her proving to herself that she can “overcome hard things,” and “hopefully inspire others to never let life’s setbacks stop you from going after your dreams. see y’all in San Jose🌟.” On January 4, 2024, a date she’ll never forget, Suni’s doctor called her with some good news.
The medical professional informed the athlete that her “medications were working well” and infusions wouldn’t need to be done often. The treatments left her feeling exhausted and sometimes they set her back for at least a week.
The great news meant she had seven months to focus on her training for the Paris Olympics. In July 2023, her parents revealed that their daughter was practicing daily and the next journey would be hers with them going along with it.
Before she returned to the sport, John said he got lots of questions from friends and people worldwide who asked if she was coming back. He shared that the Hmong community in the US was excited about her return and those in France also felt the same.
A Hmong activist in France, Emilie Lee, said when the community heard one of their own won a gold medal in the Olympics, they were all proud. For Suni’s Olympic participation in Paris, Emilie encouraged their community to unite and support the athlete so that history will know who they are.
On June 30, 2024, Suni was emotional when she got named part of the US Olympic gymnastics team. This was after spending two days competing at the US Olympic Team Trials. She finished second in the all-around and secured her spot on her second Olympic team.
Her parents watched and supported her from a suite as she and Jordan Chiles remained close. The pair competed for the second US all-around spot behind Simone. Suni eventually pushed her competitor out “by less than a tenth” and also qualified for bars and beam finals.
Speaking to the crowd after the announcement, Suni said, “A year ago, I didn’t even think this was possible,” before breaking into tears. More good news is that her kidney diseases are in remission.
Gone was the person she didn’t recognize when looking in the mirror. Her journey with her illness had been scary, with her stating, “I didn’t know it then, but the old Suni was gone. And she would never be back.”
At the 2024 Tokyo Olympics, the Women’s Qualifiers for the All-Around Final were led by Simone Biles— 59.566, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade came second — 57.7, and Suni was third — 56.132. Speaking about Simone, she and Suni Lee are supporting and encouraging each other at the 2024 games.
Suni and Simone’s Working Relationship
During an interview, Yeev’s daughter shared about the relationship she has with her idol. She revealed that she and Simone always want what’s best for each other. Despite them vying for the same spot, they rooted for each other because “we know the potential that somebody else can bring.”
They understood the hardships and difficulties they faced daily to be at the Olympics. So they supported and leaned on each other, and it’s “been the most helpful thing and something that you don’t see often.”
An example of their support was evident during the vault competition for US nationals in June 2024. When Suni fell and left to have “a breakdown,” her hero spoke to her. The Hmong athlete confessed to Simone after the meet that she was not okay.
Simone encouraged her to continue for herself and the goals she’d set. She also told her that she was capable of doing difficult things. Suni’s idol said she knew the Hmong gymnast just needed encouragement and someone to trust her abilities and believe in her, and it worked.
