Before she rose to become a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Sunisa "Suni" Lee honed her gymnastics skills at home in St. Paul, Minnesota, where her father John Lee built a homemade wooden beam for her to practice cartwheels and more.
Suni Lee has credited her parents, mom Yeev Thoj and dad John Lee, and her five siblings' endless support for helping her get to the top of the world stage.
US women's gymnastics wins team gold medal, bouncing back from Tokyo disappointmentGet to know her family below.
Suni Lee's mom and dad -- Yeev (pronounced "Yeng") Thoj and John Lee -- are both Hmong immigrants from Laos and the parents of a blended family, who call St. Paul, Minnesota home. Although John Lee is not Suni Lee's biological father, her parents said it was her decision to change her last name to Lee, according to a July 2021 ESPN profile on the Olympian's family.
In August 2019, John Lee was helping a neighbor trim tree branches when he fell from a ladder. The accident caused a spinal cord injury which resulted in paralysis from the chest down and Lee now uses a wheelchair.
Suni Lee earns Team USA gymnastics spot in front of her hometown crowdSuni Lee has five siblings, including two older siblings -- brother Jonah Lee and sister Shyenne Lee, who is just 12 days older than her. According to ESPN, many have mistaken Shyenne and Suni Lee as twins since they have been close since they first met.
Suni Lee's younger siblings are Evionn, Lucky and Noah. Evionn has followed her older sister into gymnastics as well.
Both Shyenne Lee and Evionn, as well as their parents, have been cheering on Suni Lee at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she and Team USA soared to a gold medal in the women's gymnastics team final on July 30. Suni Lee also earned a bronze medal on Aug. 1 in the women's gymnastics individual all-around, while her teammate Simone Biles took home the gold medal.