Tokyo Olympics: Asian-American gymnast Sunisa Lee wins gold medal in women’s all-around event

The teenager is the first member of the Hmong community to represent the US at the Olympic Games

She claimed gold in the event after her US teammate Simone Biles withdrew citing mental health struggles

Reading Time:3 minutes

US gymnast Sunisa Lee after winning the gold medal in the artistic gymnastics women’s all-around final. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:57pm, 29 Jul 2021Updated: 1:27am, 30 Jul 2021

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.

US gold medallist Sunisa Lee (centre) with Brazilian Rebeca Andrade and Russian Angelina Melnikova after the artistic gymnastics women's all-around final. Photo: AFP

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.”