Hmong-American teenager Sunisa Lee won the women’s gymnastics all-around Olympic gold on Thursday then immediately video called her parents, saying “I told them ‘I did it!’ and then we all started crying.”
Lee, 18, succeeded defending champion Simone Biles who withdrew over concerns for her mental health when she overcame a strong challenge from Rebeca Andrade, the first Brazilian woman to win an artistic gymnastics medal.
Russian women’s team gold medallist Angelina Melnikova finished in the bronze medal position.
Her trek to the top of the podium in Tokyo has not been without enormous personal trauma – in 2019 her father was paralysed from the chest down after a fall from a ladder and last year her aunt and uncle perished from Covid-19.
She said: “The past two years with Covid have been crazy. There was one point I wanted to quit. To be here and to be an Olympic gold medallist is just crazy.”
The Olympic debutante was adding gold to the silver she won as part of the US women’s team on Tuesday with a points tally of 57.433, 0.144 clear of Andrade, with Melnikova 0.099 away in third.
She spoke about how important it had been to win gold for her father.
“This was our dream, it’s sad he’s not here,” she said. “I’m super proud of my parents, they are the most amazing people in my life, I love them so much.”
After taking up the sport at age six, Lee won national championships and in 2019 added to a team gold medal at the World Championships with silver in the floor exercise and bronze on the asymmetric bars.
She became the first member of the Hmong community, which has its roots in Laos and China, to represent the US at the Olympics.
Many Hmong who fought alongside the US in the Vietnam war emigrated to the US in the 1970s and 1980s in search of a better life.
“They are the most supportive people ever, but many people from the Hmong community don’t reach their goals,” she said.
“It’s very restrictive, so I want people to know you can reach your dreams and do what you want to do because you never know what’s going to happen in the end so don’t ever give up on your dreams.”
Lee seized her chance after the all-around crown had been dramatically left undefended when Biles dropped out of the in-running team competition on Tuesday and subsequently the all-around.
