Sunisa Lee - The Avenger
GYMNASTICS - TEAM USA - OLYMPIC HOPEFUL
ARCHETYPE: THE AVENGER
Day 68/135
Athletic Accomplishments
Sunisa “Suni” Lee has competed for USA Gymnastics at the junior level from 2015 to 2018. After a stellar performance at the Pacific Rim junior championship, in which she won silver on vault, beam, and floor, and leading the U.S. team to a team gold, Lee got pulled up to the senior national team.
Lee made her senior debut at the 2019 City of Jesolo Trophy, where she won the all-around gold medal and led the U.S. to a team gold. She also medaled in individual events, taking home gold on uneven bars and floor and bronze on beam.
At the 2019 U.S. National Championships, Lee won the silver medal in the all-around behind Simone Biles. At World Championships, Lee had another excellent performance, helping the U.S. team win the gold medal, while winning a silver medal on floor and bronze on uneven bars.
This year, Lee competed at the 2021 Winter Cup, where she placed first on uneven bars, and third on beam. In the American Classic, she placed first on both uneven bars and balance beam.
Character Archetype: The Avenger
Eighteen year-old Suni Lee is one of the favorites to make the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team this year. Known for her poise, execution, and precision—particularly on the uneven bars, Lee is an elite competitor who knows how to stay focused and perform despite the circumstances.
In September of 2019, that focus was put to the test. The day before her first competition at the U.S. Championships, Lee received a phone call that her dad had fallen from a tree and was now paralyzed from the waist down. While her first instinct was to fly home and support him, her father insisted she stay because this is what she’d worked so hard for.
Lee used her father’s fighting spirit as inspiration, winning the silver all-around medal behind Simone Biles. After the Olympics were postponed, Lee’s resilience is once again put to the test. But just like before, she knows how to push through those setbacks with a vengeance.