91 Facts About Sunisa Lee

Sunisa "Suni" Lee is an American artistic gymnast.

Sunisa Lee is the 2020 Olympic all-around gold medalist and uneven bars bronze medalist and the 2024 Olympic all-around and uneven bars bronze medalist.

Sunisa Lee was the 2019 World Championship silver medalist on the floor and bronze medalist on uneven bars.

Sunisa Lee was a member of the teams that won gold at the 2019 World Championships and silver at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Sunisa Lee is a two-time US national champion on the uneven bars.

Sunisa Lee is reported to be the first woman of Hmong descent and first Asian American woman to win the Olympic all-around title.

Sunisa Lee is a six-time member of the US women's national gymnastics team, and with nine world championship and Olympic medals, she is the seventh-most-decorated American female gymnast.

Sunisa Lee was born Sunisa Phabsomphou on March 9,2003, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Yeev Thoj, a healthcare worker.

Sunisa Lee is of Hmong descent, and her mother, a refugee, immigrated to the United States from Laos as a child.

Sunisa Lee was raised by her mother's longtime partner, John Sunisa Lee, from the age of two and considers him to be her father.

Sunisa Lee began using his surname professionally as a teenager.

When Sunisa Lee started doing backflips outdoors, it became clear to her parents that she needed a safer venue to hone her skills.

Sunisa Lee competed in the Hopes division in 2015, became a junior elite in 2016, and made her junior elite debut at the 2016 US Classic.

Sunisa Lee earned a spot on the junior national team in 2017 and debuted internationally at the Gymnix International Junior Cup where the US team won the gold medal in the team event.

In May 2017, Sunisa Lee announced her verbal commitment to Auburn University on a gymnastics scholarship.

Sunisa Lee was named to the team to compete at the 2018 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships, which took place in April 2018.

Sunisa Lee won gold with the US team in the team final.

Sunisa Lee secured the silver medal on vault, balance beam, and in the floor exercise.

In July 2018, Sunisa Lee competed at the 2018 US Classic where she finished fifth in the all-around and won the gold medal on balance beam despite not doing a dismount.

Sunisa Lee was one of the favorites for the national junior title along with Leanne Wong, Jordan Bowers, and Kayla DiCello heading into the 2018 US Championships in Boston.

Sunisa Lee came third in the all-around behind Wong and DiCello.

Sunisa Lee made her international senior debut at the 2019 City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy where she won the all-around title and took home the gold with the US team in the team final.

Sunisa Lee won the silver on beam at the 2019 American Classic in June and finished fifth on bars after falling off twice.

Sunisa Lee injured her ankle and sustained a hairline fracture to her left tibia after a dismount from the balance beam.

Sunisa Lee was still recovering from her injuries by the time the 2019 US Championships rolled around in August.

Still, Sunisa Lee competed on all four events, and after the first day of competition, she was in second place in the all-around behind Simone Biles and in first place on uneven bars.

Sunisa Lee won gold on bars ahead of Morgan Hurd and placed fourth on beam behind Biles, Kara Eaker, and Leanne Wong.

Sunisa Lee won the bronze on floor behind Biles and Jade Carey.

The next day, Sunisa Lee was chosen to represent the US at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart alongside Biles, Kara Eaker, MyKayla Skinner, Jade Carey, and Grace McCallum.

Sunisa Lee was the only first-year senior named to the team and the only team member without prior World Championships experience.

Sunisa Lee competed in her first world championships in October 2019.

Sunisa Lee competed on uneven bars, balance beam, and floor and helped the US to gold in the team final ahead of Russia and Italy.

Sunisa Lee had another fall on the beam, but her scores on bars and floor exercise were the third highest of the day on the two events.

Sunisa Lee finished in eighth place in the all-around final after an uncharacteristic mistake on the uneven bars.

Two days later, in the uneven bars final, Sunisa Lee performed a clean routine and posted a score of 14.800.

Sunisa Lee won the bronze medal behind Derwael and Becky Downie.

Sunisa Lee won the silver in the floor exercise final behind Biles.

Sunisa Lee's gym closed temporarily for three weeks as part of the pandemic response and when she returned, she broke a bone in her left foot which left her out of action for two months.

Sunisa Lee returned to competition in February at the 2021 Winter Cup, where she competed on uneven bars and balance beam.

Sunisa Lee placed first on bars and third on beam behind Skye Blakely and Jordan Chiles, despite doing a relatively low-scoring dismount.

Sunisa Lee went on to compete at the 2021 American Classic in April.

Sunisa Lee placed first on bars and beam with scores of 15.200 and 14.550, and finished fifth on floor even though she opted to simplify two tumbling passes.

Sunisa Lee fell off both apparatus and placed tenth and eighth respectively.

Sunisa Lee executed a bars routine with a 6.8 difficulty value, scoring 15.300.

Sunisa Lee went on to win the silver in the all-around behind Simone Biles.

Sunisa Lee placed first on the uneven bars, second on the balance beam, and qualified for the upcoming US Olympic Gymnastics Trials.

Sunisa Lee achieved an uneven bars score of 15.300 on day one and found herself in second place in the all-around behind Biles.

However, Sunisa Lee's combined score over the two days was less than Biles' and she finished second overall, securing her spot on the 2020 US Olympic team alongside Biles.

Sunisa Lee competed on all four events during qualifications; the US advanced to the team final in second place behind the Russian Olympic Committee.

Sunisa Lee finished third overall behind Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade and qualified for the individual all-around final.

Sunisa Lee progressed to the uneven bars final in second place behind Nina Derwael and the balance beam final in third behind Guan Chenchen and Tang Xijing.

Sunisa Lee was initially to compete only on uneven bars and balance beam in the team final, but when Biles withdrew from the competition after the first rotation, Sunisa Lee replaced her on floor exercise.

Sunisa Lee hit all three of her routines and scored 15.400 on bars and 14.133 on beam.

Sunisa Lee won the women's individual all-around gold ahead of Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and Angelina Melnikova of the Russian Olympic Committee.

Sunisa Lee is the sixth US woman to claim the Olympic all-around title following Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin, Gabby Douglas, and Simone Biles.

Sunisa Lee is the first Hmong-American Olympian, the first Asian American woman to take the Olympic all-around crown, and was reported to be the first all-around Asian champion of any nationality.

Sunisa Lee was the first competitor in the starting order in the uneven bars final and uncharacteristically failed to connect several elements.

Sunisa Lee received a score of 13.866 in the balance beam final and placed fifth after a large balance check on one of her elements.

Sunisa Lee registered for classes at Auburn University in August 2021 and left elite gymnastics to compete in the NCAA.

Sunisa Lee made her NCAA debut on January 7,2022, in a tri-meet against North Carolina and Bowling Green.

Sunisa Lee competed on uneven bars and balance beam to help Auburn secure the win.

Auburn won the meet with Sunisa Lee winning the all-around title outright with a total score of 39.700.

Sunisa Lee was only the sixth Auburn gymnast to score a perfect ten and the first since 2004.

At the NCAA Championship, Sunisa Lee finished first on balance beam and second in the all-around behind Trinity Thomas.

Sunisa Lee's first meet of the season was at the inaugural Super 16 event in Las Vegas where she won the balance beam title with a perfect 10 and the all-around title with a cumulative score of 39.75.

In March 2023 Sunisa Lee was diagnosed with an unspecified rare kidney disease.

Sunisa Lee was invited to attend the team selection camp for the World Championships and Pan American Games but chose not to participate, citing her kidney-related health issues.

Sunisa Lee began the 2024 season competing at the 2024 Winter Cup where she had rough performances on the uneven bars and balance beam.

Sunisa Lee next competed at the American Classic where she placed first on balance beam.

At the Core Hydration Classic, Sunisa Lee competed on floor exercise for the first time since the Tokyo Olympic Games, and placed first on balance beam.

Sunisa Lee was named to the US National Team and invited to compete at the Olympic trials.

At the Olympic trials, Sunisa Lee placed second in the all-around, first on uneven bars, fifth on balance beam, and seventh on floor exercise.

Sunisa Lee ended the day ranked third overall and qualified for the all-around final.

Sunisa Lee has been hired as an endorser for Marriott, L'Oreal, Invisalign, Amazon, Gatorade, Target, and CLIF Bar; by American apparel and lifestyle brand Free People in October 2021, and by American footwear company Crocs in March 2023, She appeared in an ad for Sony's Final Fantasy 16 in June 2023.

Sunisa Lee was hired in 2023 by The LEGO Group, which featured her in its "Play Unstoppable" campaign alongside soccer star Megan Rapinoe, journalist and author Elaine Welteroth, and other inspiring women.

In May 2024, Sunisa Lee promoted products from dry shampoo company Batiste Hair on her social media.

Sunisa Lee was hired as the face of the "Americana" collaboration between LoveShackFancy and Cotton Incorporated, by fashion nail company KISS, and by Kim Kardashian's SKIMS for their limited Team USA collection in June 2024 ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Sunisa Lee was hired by American-Canadian athletic apparel retailer Lululemon in October 2024, In November 2024, Sports Illustrated announced she would appear in the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition; which the magazine said was part of its effort to celebrate powerful female athletes who challenge sterotypes and inspire young girls.

Sunisa Lee was hired by sportswear company HOKA in January 2025.

Sunisa Lee designed a signature collection of leotards for GK Elite in 2021.

In January 2022, Sunisa Lee launched her first capsule collection with British fashion retailer PrettyLittleThing.

Sunisa Lee was featured in the six-episode YouTube Originals documentary series Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women's Gymnastics.

In June 2021, Sunisa Lee starred in the Peacock docuseries Golden: The Journey of USA's Elite Gymnasts, which followed top US gymnasts as they compete for a spot on Team USA ahead of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Sunisa Lee was the seventh Olympic gymnast to be a contestant on the show, following Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Simone Biles, and Mary Lou Retton.

Sunisa Lee was eliminated in week 9 and finished in 5th place.

Sunisa Lee went to Battle Creek Elementary in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Sunisa Lee later attended South St Paul Secondary and received her high school diploma in June 2021.

Sunisa Lee enrolled at Auburn University in August 2021 as a business marketing major, but left after her sophomore year due to health issues and in order to return to elite gymnastics with her sights set on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Sunisa Lee said she was pepper-sprayed in a racial incident in November 2021 while in Los Angeles for her stint on Dancing with the Stars.

In March 2023, Sunisa Lee was diagnosed with two kidney diseases, one of which is incurable, that she chooses not to disclose to the public.

Sunisa Lee sought medical treatment when her entire body swelled and was reportedly nauseous and lightheaded frequently.