Will Suni Lee win Dancing with the Stars? Meet the first Hmong American Olympian – who won gymnastics gold – and diehard Harry Potter and Justin Bieber fan

Oct 26 , 2021

Is Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee on track to win season 30 of Dancing With The Stars? Photo: Instagram/@sunisalee

One of Time’s ‘100 Most Influential People’, Lee is following teammates Simon Biles and Laurie Hernandez by partnering up with Sasha Farber on DWTS season 30

Lee revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she was too scared to meet Justin Bieber at the Met Gala, despite Hailey Bieber’s offer to connect the two

Since Dancing With The Stars returned for its 30th season, Sunisa “Suni” Lee has been stealing the spotlight as one of its celebrity contestants. If her name rings a bell, that’s because this 18-year-old gymnast clinched a gold, a silver and a bronze medal at the recent 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Sunisa “Suni” Lee is a competitor on Dancing with the Stars season 30. Photo: @sunisalee/Instagram

Aside from joining the popular ABC dance competition show, Lee was also named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World alongside athletes like Naomi Osaka. This highly-decorated athlete is truly becoming an inspiration to other young women. But what else do we know about her?

She is the first Hmong American Olympian

Sunisa Lee competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Photo: @sunisalee/Instagram

Lee’s stint at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was definitely one for the books as she was the first-ever Hmong American gymnast to represent the USA in the games. Both her mother Yeev Thoj and step-dad John Lee were children when their refugee families moved from Laos to St. Paul, Minnesota, according to Today. They are Hmong, an ethnic group of people primarily from Southeast Asia and China who fought alongside the US in the Vietnam war.

She is the seventh Olympic gymnast to be a Dancing With The Stars contestant

Sunisa Lee is not the first gymnast to join Dancing With The Stars. Photo: @sunisalee/Instagram

Following in the footsteps of other star gymnasts, Lee told USA Today that joining Dancing With The Stars was one of her goals after the Olympics. The prestigious list of DWTS alums includes her teammates Laurie Hernandez, who snagged the mirrorball trophy for season 23, and Simone Biles, who placed fourth in season 24. So far, Lee has been killing it on the dance floor with her professional partner Sasha Farber.

She’s a university first-year

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x