Suni Lee

Sunisa Phabsomphou Lee, born March 9, 2003, is an American artistic gymnast. She is best known as an Olympic all-around gold medalist and a multi-time Olympic and World Championship medalist. Lee is the first Hmong-American Olympian and the first Asian American woman to win the Olympic all-around title. With nine world championship and Olympic medals, she is the seventh-most-decorated American female gymnast and one of only three female gymnasts to win NCAA, World, and Olympic championship titles.

Lee was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to a mother who immigrated to the United States from Laos as a refugee. She was raised by her mother's partner, John Lee, whose surname she adopted as a teenager. Lee took an interest in gymnastics at age six and began training at the Midwest Gymnastics Center under coach Punnarith Koy before switching to coach Jess Graba at age 12. She qualified for elite gymnastics at age 11.

Lee made her junior elite debut in 2016 and earned a spot on the junior national team in 2017. During her junior career, she won team gold and individual silver on uneven bars at the 2017 Gymnix International Junior Cup, team gold at the 2018 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships, and gold on uneven bars at the 2018 U.S. Championships.

In 2019, Lee made her international senior debut, winning the all-around title and team gold at the City of Jesolo Trophy. She earned all-around silver and uneven bars gold at the 2019 U.S. Championships. At her senior World Championships debut in Stuttgart, she helped the U.S. team win gold and claimed an individual silver on floor exercise and a bronze on uneven bars. Lee overcame injuries, including a broken foot bone and an Achilles tendon injury, during the 2020 season.

At the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, Lee won the gold medal in the individual all-around event. She also secured a silver medal with the U.S. team and a bronze medal on the uneven bars. Following the Olympics, she joined the Auburn Tigers gymnastics team to compete in the NCAA. In her freshman season, she won the NCAA championship title on balance beam, an SEC title on uneven bars, and finished second in the NCAA all-around.

In April 2023, Lee ended her collegiate gymnastics career early due to a diagnosis of an unspecified rare kidney disease, intending to focus on returning to elite competition for the 2024 Olympic Games. She returned to elite competition later that year at the 2023 U.S. Classic.

Lee returned to the Olympic stage at the 2024 Summer Olympics, winning gold with the U.S. team, colloquially referred to as the Golden Girls, along with bronze medals in both the all-around and uneven bars events. Over the course of her career, she has received numerous accolades, including Sports Illustrated's Female Athlete of the Year, the Women's Sports Foundation's Sportswoman of the Year, inclusion in the Time 100 list, an Asia Game Changer Award, and the 2025 Best Comeback Athlete ESPY Award.