Olympic Gymnastics: Sunisa Lee — a Hmong American — takes bronze on the uneven bars

Medal table | Olympic schedule | How to watch | Olympic news

PARIS — Sunisa Lee knew what she needed. She has certainly proven that she knows what is needed.

Lee finished last in the individual final on the uneven bars, delivering another brilliant performance under the Olympic rings. He scored 14.800, narrowly beating Belgium’s Nina Derwael (14.766) to win a bronze medal.

Kaylia Nemour from Algeria (15.700) won gold. China’s Qiyuan Qui won silver (15.500).

For Lee, the bronze is her third medal of the Paris Games, along with a gold medal in the team competition and a bronze medal in the all-around. It adds to the gold in all-around, the silver in team and the bronze in beam that she won at the 2021 Tokyo Games.

She may not be the generational genius of her American teammate and friend Simone Biles, but thanks to her two Olympic appearances and her time as a true American at Auburn University, she has built a career that rivals almost anyone.

She has always behaved in an exemplary manner, beaming with pride, encouraging her teammates and representing her country.

And the land of her community.

Lee hails from St. Paul, Minnesota, part of one of the most unique, yet little-known, subsets of the American population. That’s why her continued presence at the Olympics, in a sport that Americans care so much about, means so much to many of those closest to her.

Lee is a Hmong American and symbolizes the inevitable triumph of a community of refugees without a homeland, but with great and proven loyalty and sacrifice to the United States, where they came in search of acceptance, opportunity and perhaps most of all, recognition.

In the run-up to and during US involvement in the Vietnam War, the US Central Intelligence Agency recruited and trained the Hmong people – an ethnic group living primarily in Laos – to combat communist expansion in that country and in Vietnam.

The Hmong became valuable allies of the US and its military, risking and suffering heavy losses in the Laotian Civil War and supporting US operations across the border and in Vietnam. They sought to spread democracy in the region.

Because this was a CIA operation, the Hmong participation was kept strictly secret. Under the leadership of Hmong leader General Vang Pao, they became known as “The Secret Army.”

“The Hmong fought side by side with the United States,” said Txongpao Lee, director of the Hmong Cultural Center in St. Paul, Minn. “The Hmong have always been friendly to the Americans.”

When the United States withdrew and left Vietnam in 1975, the Hmong were a people without a country. They saw a bleak future, as the communist regimes they had fought against now sought retribution. Death. Imprisonment. Re-education. Persecution.

“The young men should all be executed,” Txongpao Lee said. “Die today or die tomorrow.”

In 1975, after a heated political debate, President Ford signed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act to first bring to the United States those soldiers, almost all men, who had joined the Americans. Five years later, their families came as well. Most settled in St. Paul.

While they trusted the United States and sacrificed for the United States and fought with their lives with the United States, they came against fierce opposition. The Hmong story was virtually unknown – this was a covert CIA operation after all. Their numbers were small, perhaps 30,000.

They were not celebrated as heroes. Many Americans saw them as potential enemies. The transition was difficult, filled with resistance and racism.

Were they to be trusted? Were they the enemy?

“The question was, ‘Who are the Hmongs? What country are you from?'” Txongpao Lee said. “Nobody knew what had happened in Laos. Nobody knew who the Hmongs were. Nobody knew about ‘The Secret Army.’ Nobody knew that we couldn’t stay, that we had no country.”

Over the years, more and more Hmong came to the U.S., following the waves of male soldiers in need of immediate security. Among them was John Lee, who arrived in St. Paul in 1979 as a 7-year-old to reunite with his father, who had fought in the secret army. He later served in the U.S. Army himself. In 1987, a 12-year-old named Yeev arrived with her mother and sister. They later married and had six children.

Suni Lee is one of them.

Lee is here – as she was in Tokyo – to represent the United States. It’s where she was born, raised and grew up, of course.

But she also represents one of those unique, important parts of our country, the Hmong, an American community with an American story to tell. With this talented gymnast and her medal-winning performance, she is someone who can tell her story anywhere.