How Sunisa Lee overcame family tragedy and injury to win Olympic gold

The gymnast was considering quitting her sport in the run-up to the Olympics. But when Simone Biles stepped away she grabbed her chance to shine

On Thursday night in Tokyo, moments after Sunisa Lee was awarded the gold medal in the women's gymnastics all-around competition, the 18-year-old American called the experience surreal."

And of course it was. Lee, like every other US gymnast for most of the past decade, was supposed to play second fiddle, at best, to Simone Biles in Tokyo. In 2016, Biles's teammate Laurie Hernandez told reporters at the Olympics: If you get silver, you're the best, because Simone doesn't count."