Team USA Gymnast Suni Lee Clinches Gold In Women's All-Around

Jul 30, 2021 by apost team

Despite defending champion Simone Biles’ decision to drop out of the women’s all-around gymnastics event on Thursday, a member of the U.S. gymnastics team, 18-year-old Suni Lee, still took home gold. Lee scored 57.433, beating Brazilian athlete Rebeca Andrade’s score of 57.298 and Russian gymnast Angelina Meliko’s score of 57.199.

The margins were razor-thin, as Lee began her floor exercise, the all-around competition’s final event. At that time, Lee was still in the lead with 43.733 to Andrade’s 43.632 and Russian gymnast Vladislava Urazova’s 43.566. But with her excellent performance and score of 13.700 on floor, Lee stuck her landing and took home gold. The other U.S. gymnastics competitor, Jade Carey, finished eighth out of 24.

Lee’s win is significant not only because the athlete is relatively unknown outside of the world of gymnastics, but also because Lee, who is Hmong, is the first Asian American gymnast to win the all-around title. She is also the first Hmong American to make the U.S. gymnastics team.

The 18-year-old trailblazer’s stellar gold-medal performance puts her in a long line of American women who have won the all-around title since 2004 — Biles in 2016, Gabby Douglas in 2012, Nastia Liukin in 2008 and Carly Patterson in 2004.

Although Biles withdrew from the competition due to concerns for her mental health, the four-time gold medalist cheered for her teammates from the stands.

“It means a lot to me to have Simone here cheering for me,” Lee said. Just to have her in the arena was very helpful because she is an inspiration to me and someone I look up to.”

“They told me to just go out there and not worry about anything else because I was starting to put a lot of pressure on myself,” Lee added regarding the advice she received from her senior teammates, including Biles.

“I feel like people kind of put that pressure on me, that I had to come back with that medal. So I tried not to think about it and that’s what they told me to do; just focus on myself and do what I want to do because that’s when I compete the best.”

The pressure Lee felt is understandable given the circumstances.  Biles, the defending all-around champion and gymnastics superstar, announced her withdrawal from the event on July 28, citing her mental health. The athlete’s July 28 decision came a day after Biles opted not to compete in the team final after doing one rotation because of her mental state. That left it up to Lee and Carey, 21, to take home gold while Biles supported her team from the stands.

"This Olympic Games, I wanted it to be for myself," Biles told reporters following her withdrawal. 

"I came in and felt like I was still doing it for other people," she continued, reportedly fighting back tears. "That just hurts my heart that doing what I love has been kind of taken away from me to please other people."

Biles elaborated on her decision at a news conference that followed Tuesday’s team event.

“I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a back seat, work on my mindfulness. And I knew that the girls would do an absolutely great job,” Biles explained at the press conference.

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“And I didn't want to risk the team a medal for kind of my screwups, because they've worked way too hard for that. So I just decided that those girls need to go and do the rest of our competition.”

According to a statement The New York Times received from Biles’ team and manager, her teammates supported the gymnast’s decision to prioritize her mental health over the sport — even if it meant that they had lost one of their strongest athletes.

And Lee’s performance on Thursday shows that even though Biles’ loss was no doubt a massive blow, other Team U.S.A. members are more than ready and willing to pick up the slack.

According to The Guardian, Lee’s parents, John Lee and Yeev Thoj, were among the many Hmong individuals that the CIA recruited to keep the North Vietnamese out of Laos during the 1970s. And after Laos fell, Lee’s parents became refugees who had to travel by way of Thailand to the United States, where there is a significant Hmong community.

“The community is amazing,” Lee told reporters after winning gold. “They were all together watching. Everybody got to see me winning a gold medal and I wish they could have been here. There were actually too many people to fit in my house, so they went to a community centre and watched it together.”

Biles, too, was among Lee’s many fans.

“CONGRATS PRINCESS ✨✨ absolutely killed it!!! OLYMPIC CHAMPION RIGHT HERE !!! So so so beyond proud of you!!!!” Biles wrote on Instagram after Lee’s win.

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