A few years ago, Suni Lee’s father suffered a horrific accident that left him paralyzed.
Suni Lee is one of the gymnasts on Team USA competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Memorably, she won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. While she is neither the youngest nor the most famous athlete to represent the United States in France, many eyes are on her.
Her family, including her father, are cheering her on. But what accident happened to her father?
A supportive family helps Suni Lee become an Olympic athlete
Suni Lee is a Team USA gymnast from Minnesota. Now 21 years old, she is a college student.
Suni, whose real name is Sunisa Phabsomphou, is the first person of Miao descent to participate in the Olympics. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Laos.
When Suni was only two years old, her mother Yev met John Lee. John was recently divorced and had two children of his own.
Suni believed that John was her father and even changed her last name to match his, even though he and Yev never married.
After the Tokyo Olympics, the extremely proud John Lee told the media today show He built a wooden balance beam in the backyard for Suni to practice on.
“She goes to the gym to practice, but we don’t have a crossbar here,” he explained. “So, I couldn’t afford a real beam, so I made her one.”
This is when she was young. However, her father explained: “Liang is still there.”
Suni Lee and dad John Lee recover from accident that resulted in hem injury
It took Suni Lee years of hard work and recovery to win the 2021 gold medal. She suffered leg and foot injuries that kept her out of competition for two months.
In 2019, father John Lee suffered a catastrophic — and not uncommon — injury with horrific consequences.
He fell off the ladder. The resulting injuries resulted in paralysis from the chest down. It was a life-changing disaster.
John Lee’s bad fall occurred just before Suni competed in the national championship game in Kansas City.
Suni considered dropping out of school because she was worried about her father’s injuries after the accident. Still, he encouraged her to go.
She did it and came in second behind the legendary Simone Biles. When Suni won gold on the uneven bars at the 2019 U.S. Championships (she suffered an injury herself), she dedicated the victory to her father.
Although John Lee suffered a serious fall, he survived and cheered his daughter through the 2021 Olympics. Now it’s the 2024 Olympics.
Suni Lee knows her father has not been shaken in his support for her by the accident.
Her whole family was proud when she competed in Paris. The same goes for America as a whole.
