Medal count and scores for Auburn gymnast

While Simone Biles understandably gets a lot of attention in conversations around USA Gymnastics, there’s another athlete on the team who makes her tough to top: Auburn gymnast Sunisa “Suni” Lee.

Lee emerged as a star in the sport at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (which were held in 2021), where Biles was forced to withdraw due to a case of twisties. Lee, the first-ever Hmong American to compete for the United States at the Olympics, is already one of the most decorated Americans in U.S. gymnastics history at age 21. She has six world championship and Olympic medals (three in each) and was the 2022 NCAA balance beam champion.

If Lee wins a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she will tie Shawn Johnson and Chellsie Memmel for eighth in medal counts in major events among U.S. gymnasts. Lee’s teammate, Shilese Jones, has a chance to do the same, as she also comes in with six medals among major gymnastics events.

PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES 2024: Follow USA TODAY’s full coverage here

How did Lee land in such a vaunted position on Team USA? Her performance at the 2020 Tokyo Games catapulted her into the spotlight, and since then, Lee has done nothing to dissuade viewers from the perception of her as elitist.

Suni Lee Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Medal Table

Lee won three medals at the 2020 Tokyo Games, including a gold medal in the individual all-around category.

Lee was also recognized as part of a U.S. team that won silver among teams and bronze on the uneven bars. The only event in which Lee did not win a medal was the balance beam, where she placed fifth.

Lee, along with Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and the Russian Olympic Committee’s Angelina Melnikova, were the only female gymnasts to win medals in multiple individual events at Tokyo 2020. Andrade and Lee were the only ones to win individual gold while achieving that feat.

REQUIRED READING: How Suni Lee’s Health Journey Changed Her Gymnastics Mindset: ‘This Is What I Want’

Suni Lee Olympic Games 2020 scores

Lee competed in four events at the 2020 Olympic Games: the team event, the all-around, the uneven bars and the balance beam.

Balance Beam Scores

Lee scored a 6.4 and 7.466 (13.866) for her balance beam routines to finish in fifth place. Her teammate Biles took bronze on the beam, while China took gold and silver for Guan Chenchen and Tang Xijing respectively.

Uneven Bars Scores

On the uneven bars, Lee came third, taking bronze with scores of 6.2 and 8.3 (14.500). She finished behind Belgium’s Nina Derwael (15.200) and Anastasia Ilyankova of the Russian Olympic Committee (14.833).

Individual all-round scores

Lee really excelled in the all-around, beating Brazilian Andrade with a score of 57.433. Andrade finished with a score of 57.298 to win silver.

In the all-around routine, Lee scored 14.600 on the vault, 15.300 on the uneven bars, 13.833 on the balance beam and 13.700 on the floor exercise.

Team allround scores

Finally, there was the team all-around, in which the United States finished in second place, behind the Russian Olympic Committee.

Lee scored 15.400 on the uneven bars (tied with Derwael for the best of all competitors), 14.133 on the balance beam (the second best of all competitors, behind Viktoria Listunova of the ROC) and 13.666 on the floor exercises.

Lee’s all-around talent helped her stand out from the crowd in 2021. Now, three years later, she hopes to do the same as a more established member of Team USA.