Suni Lee, Olympic gold medalist, reveals she was target of racist attack

close

Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for November 11

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on foxnews.1eye.us.

Suni Lee returned from Tokyo an Olympic gold medalist and one of the best gymnasts in the world

But at home she was still met with racist attacks, she revealed to Pop Sugar in a recent interview. The 18-year-old Minnesota native is a Hmong American. Her parents emigrated from Laos to Minnesota, which has the largest concentration of Hmong in the U.S.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON foxnews.1eye.us

Sunisa Lee of the United States, finishes after performing on the uneven bars during the artistic gymnastics women's apparatus final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

She told the outlet she had been waiting for an Uber with some of her friends who are all of Asian descent when a group in a speeding car yelled "ching chong" at them and told them to "go back to where they came from." Lee said one person sprayed her arm with pepper spray.

"I was so mad, but there was nothing I could do or control because they skirted off. I didn't do anything to them, and having the reputation, it's so hard because I didn't want to do anything that could get me into trouble. I just let it happen," she told Pop Sugar.

The gymnast took home three medals in Tokyo. She won gold in the all-around, silver in the team and bronze in the uneven bars.

USA's Sunisa Lee (L) celebrates with her coach after winning the artistic gymnastics women's all-around final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on July 29, 2021. (MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)

NATHAN CHEN BACK IN FORM WITH SKATE CANADA BLOWOUT VICTORY

Lee wasn’t the only American Olympian to be targeted over the last year.

Sakura Kokumai revealed in April she was the target of an angry rant at a California park.

Kokumai, who is a Japanese American and was born in Hawaii, told KTLA she heard the man shout Asian slurs before he got into his vehicle.

"I was aware about the anti-Asian hate that was going on. You see it almost every day on the news," she told the station. "But I didn’t think it would happen to me at a park I usually go to train."

Sunisa Lee, of United States, reacts as she poses for a picture after winning the gold medal in the artistic gymnastics women's all-around final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 29, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

The man was later arrested, Orange police said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Kokumai finished in fourth place in the women’s kata event in Tokyo.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.