A few years ago, the dad of Suni Lee was in a horrible accident that left him paralyzed.
Suni Lee is one of the Team USA gymnasts competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Memorably, she took home the Gold in the Tokyo Olympics. While she’s neither the youngest nor the most famous athlete representing America in France, many eyes are on her.
Her family, including her father, are cheering her on. But what accident befell her father?
A supportive family helped Suni Lee become an Olympic athlete
Suni Lee is a Team USA gymnast from Minnesota. Now 21 years old, she is a college student.
Born Sunisa Phabsomphou, Suni is the first American of Hmong descent to compete in the Olympics. Her parents immigrated to the US from Laos.
When Suni was only two years old, her mother, Yeev, met John Lee. John was at the time recently divorced and had two children of his own.
Suni considers John to be her father, even changing her last name to match his, though he and Yeev never married.
After the Tokyo Olympics, the immensely proud John Lee told the Today Show that he had built a wooden balance beam in the backyard for Suni to use for practice.
“She goes to the gym and she practices but we don’t have a beam here,” he explained. “So, I couldn’t afford a real beam, so I built her one.”
This was when she was younger. However, her father explained: “The beam is still there.”
Both Suni Lee and dad John Lee recovered from accidents that left hem injured
Suni Lee’s 2021 gold medal came only after years of work and recovery. She had suffered a leg and foot injury that took her out of action for two months.
In 2019, dad John Lee suffered a catastrophic — and less unusual — injury with dire results.
He had fallen off of a ladder. The resulting injuries caused paralysis from the chest down. That is a life-altering catastrophe.
John Lee’s grievous fall happened just before Suni competed in Kansas City for the national championships.
Suni was considering dropping out, feeling concerned for her injured dad after his accident. However, he encouraged her to go.
She did, and she placed second only to the legendary Simone Biles. When Suni won gold on the uneven bars at the 2019 US Championships (dealing with her own injury, no less), she dedicated that triumph to her dad.
Though John Lee’s injurious fall was terrible, he survived to cheer on his daughter through the 2021 Olympics. And, now for the 2024 Olympics.
Suni Lee knows that her dad didn’t let his accident cause his support for her to waver.
Her whole family is beaming with pride as she competes in Paris. And so is all of America.