Suni Lee may be the 2020 Olympic all-around champion, but she wouldn’t have gotten to where she is now without her parents. She became the first Hmong-American Olympian in history and her folks were supportive every step of the away.
Sunisa Lee has been flipping and doing air tricks ever since she was a little girl. Her parents recognized her ability and enrolled her at Midwest Gymnastics Center in Little Canada, Minnesota. Fast forward more than a decade later, Suni became one of the most decorated gymnasts in the Olympics alongside teammate Simone Biles.
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Who are Suni Lee’s parents?
John Lee
John Lee isn’t Sunisa Lee’s biological father, but she considers him to be her dad. John is her mother Yeev Thoj’s longtime partner and has been in the gymnast’s life since she was 2 years old. He sparked her love for gymnastics after he built her a balance beam in their backyard when she was 6. John has two children from a previous marriage and has two children with Yeev.
Two weeks before she competed in nationals, John fell from a ladder while helping a friend cut a tree branch. The injury left him paralyzed below his chest. Nonetheless, he was very supportive of his daughter even from thousands of miles away when she competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I thought he was going to pass away when he was in the hospital, so I didn’t want to go to nationals and compete. But he told me to go, that he really wanted me to go. So I did,” Suni told The New York Times. “Now I realize that if he didn’t push me like that, I wouldn’t be in the spot I am right now with the Olympics so close.”
“Before my injury, I was active and athletic and I fixed everything around the house,” John told ESPN. “I can’t do any of that now, and it’s hard. But when I get so angry at myself, I look at Sunisa and think about what she has had to go through to get to where she’s at, and she inspires me.”
Yeev Thoj
Yeev Thoj is Suni Lee’s mother. She named her firstborn daughter after her favorite Thai soap opera actor. She throws block parties for the Hmong community in St. Paul and is incredibly supportive of her daughter. She admits that she holds her breath every time her daughter is in the air. “When she made it, we were all in tears, cheering for her,” Thoj told Fox 9 when she made it to the national team.
