Minnesota native Suni Lee is just 18 years old but in the past few years, she’s risen to the top of the world of gymnastics. As of July 29, 2021, she’s also an Olympic gold medalist. It was a surprise win for Suni, who didn’t seem likely to take home a medal until her teammate Simone Biles pulled out from the competition at the last minute.

After Simone’s surprise exit, Suni stepped up to the plate (or to the mat, in this case), and as she told the Star Tribune, “I went out on that floor, and I just chucked every single thing. When I had to go out there and do it, I just needed to do what I do.”

While this world-class athlete is conquering the world of gymnastics, the 18-year old still remains grounded in her Hmong community. As the first Hmong American to make a U.S. Olympic team and also win a gold, Suni is an ambassador and role model for a group that settled in the U.S. in the 1970s.

The Hmong are an ethnic group from Laos, Vietnam, and parts of China, who were recruited by the U.S. during the Vietnam war to help keep communists from North Vietnam out of Laos. Despite promises to take care of the community after the war had ended, when the U.S. pulled out of Laos in 1973, the Lao government declared the Hmong people enemies of the state because they had collaborated with the Americans.

The Hmong began to face persecution from the government and thousands were forced to flee their homes for neighboring Thailand. Thailand didn’t allow them to settle there, so eventually many Hmong people resettled in the United States. Today, there are around 300,000 Hmong Americans, 80,000 of whom live in Minnesota, like Suni’s family.