Sunisa “Suni” Lee is a 21-year-old artistic gymnast representing the United States on the world stage. She won gold medals at the 2019 World Championships, the 2022 NCAA Championships, and both the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games.
At this summer’s Paris Olympics, her performances helped the United States team win overall gold in the gymnastics events — something she was clearly overjoyed about, as she posted a wholesome video on her TikTok account showing off the gold medal in her accommodation at the Olympic village, along with the caption “on top of the word rn.”
Her success is all the more admirable and impressive, considering she took a six-month hiatus from gymnastics in March 2023 due to an unspecified rare kidney disease. Thankfully, she’s now in remission from the condition and clearly back to full strength.
Born on March 9, 2003, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Lee is American through and through. However, her parentage gives her an intriguing ethnicity.
What ethnicity is Suni Lee?
Lee’s mother, Yeev Thoj, a healthcare worker, was a refugee who immigrated to the United States from Laos when she was a child. That means Lee’s ethnicity is Hmong. The Hmong people are an ethnic group that lives primarily in China and Southeast Asia.
It also makes her the first Hmong-American Olympian. Lee is also said to be the first woman of Asian descent and the first Asian American woman to win the Olympic all-around title.
She’s the pride of America and her Minnesota and Hmong-American communities, and long may that continue.