Tokyo Olympics: Sunisa Lee’s gymnastics gold and the pride of the Hmong

US gymnast Sunisa Lee captured the women’s all-around gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, a triumph that made all of the state of Minnesota proud but held a special place in the state’s close-knit Hmong American community.

Lee got her chance when the reigning champion Simone Biles withdrew from the event to focus on her mental health. And she nailed it.

“I cannot find the words to express how happy we are, how important that was to me and my family and to the whole Hmong community throughout the world. We never expected gold, but she came through. She did it,” John Lee, Sunisa’s father, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying after the win.

But people did expect her to win as a large number of her family and friends sat at a suburban event center to watch her in the final.

During the final,a Rebeca Andrade of Brazil stepped out of bounds twice during her floor routine and for John Lee and everybody else watching his 18-year-old daughter knew that she would soon have a gold medal around her neck.

“It was neck to neck going to that last event, and when she pulled it off, my mind, just oh my God, is this really real? And when we saw that she won it, I could not even find the right words to say how happy, how proud I am of her. I never cry, I try not to in front of people, I do deep inside, but I do not want to show it to the world. My daughter cried, my wife cried happy tears,” Lee told AP.

Many from the Hmong community fought for the US in Laos during the Vietnam War. Most of them resettled in Minnesota and patriotism runs deep in the community. That is why Lee’s success is more special.

Ayden Her, daughter of state Representative Kaohly Vang Her, said that it was because the Hmong were oppressed in every other country where they have lived, including Laos and China, and sought opportunity in America.

“Every other Hmong person who has done something as a first is literally living out the dreams of our ancestors,” said the athlete who once trained with Lee.

Sunisa Lee will be heading to Auburn University for further studies, and her community is raising scholarship money for her. Though her father hopes that she will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but says that now is not the time to decide that.