From out of Biles’ shadow, America discovers a new star

America has a new darling of gymnastics. Her name is Sunisa Lee, she is 18 years old and she is the new all-around Olympic champion.

Lee is a teenager from the twin city of St Paul in Minnesota. She is a member of the Hmong community, the first to represent America at the Olympics.

Sunisa Lee has won the all-around final.Credit: Getty Images

The Hmongs are associated with a dark chapter in American history.

Under the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations, the CIA recruited the ethnic group to help wage its Secret War in Laos. When the Americans bugged out, they left the Hmongs behind and initially refused to grant them asylum.

Eventually, Lee’s father John got to the States. When Sunisa Lee was starting gymnastics, he would go to all her competitions. Three days before her breakthrough performance at the 2016 nationals he fell off a ladder and damaged his spinal cord. He is now a paraplegic.

St Paul has one of the largest Hmong populations in America. They are mostly poor and very community minded. After tonight, there won’t be a Hmong in America who doesn’t know the name Sunisa Lee and what she represents.

Lee reacts after getting her score for the floor apparatusCredit: AP

With Simone Biles, a gymnast who has not lost an all-around event at a major competition for eight years, looking on from the stands, this night was always going to produce something new and unexpected.

In some ways, Lee’s triumph should not surprise anyone. You have to go back to the Sydney Games to find the last time someone other than an American won the Olympic all-around title.

Yet, to think where she has come from, with her father fashioning a makeshift balance beam in their backyard, it is remarkable that Lee ever got to Tokyo, let alone that she will leave it as a celebrated champion.

Simone Biles watches Lee from the stands.Credit: AP

The silver medal went to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. Russian Angelina Melnikova won bronze.

Biles, the most successful and famous gymnast in the world, withdrew from the team final and all-around final to preserve her mental health. She has not said whether she will compete in any of the apparatus finals.

At the age of 24 and given what has happened here, it is unclear whether she will ever compete again.

From Biles’ shadow, Sunisa Lee has stepped forward to shine.

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