Source: Laurence Griffiths / Getty
On July 29, 18-year-old Sunisa Lee became the fifth woman, consecutively, to win gold in the women’s individual all-around gymnastics final at the Olympics, as per CNN.
The historic win made also made headlines since Sunisa — nicknamed “Suni” — is the first Hmong-American Olympic gymnast ever. The 18-year-old got her gold with a total score of 57.433 points — just enough to place her ahead of Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade who took home the silver medal.
Notably, Andrade made history in her own right as the first Brazilian woman gymnast to become an Olympic medal holder.
Russian gymnast Angelina Melnikova rounded out the trio of champions with her third-place victory, securing her the bronze medal.
First place champion Suni will be headed to Auburn University to continue her education as she trains as an “Auburn Tiger” this fall, according to Opelika-Auburn News. As per the local source, she’d signed with the university back in December.
Simone Biles was favorited to win the gold for Team USA’s womens gymnastics squad before she withdrew from the Olympics earlier this week in order to prioritize her mental health. As MADAMENOIRE previously reported, the athlete shared that her headspace wasn’t 100% where she would have liked it to be going into this year’s Games.
Read about how tennis champion Naomi Osaka influenced Biles’ decision to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics here.
