Two Asian American gymnasts make US gymnastic team, but not Suni Lee

The US women's gymnastic team going to Worlds are, from left: Joselyn Roberson, Leanne Wong, Shilese Jones, Kayla DiCello, Skye Blakely and Simone Biles.

One familiar name will be missing on the women's gymnastic team the United States will be sending to the Artistic World Championships this coming weekend. However, the 2020 Olympic all-around gold medalist Sunisa Lee will not be making the trip to Antwerp, Belgium.

The 20-year old Lee, the first Hmong American to win an Olympic gold for the US, had to withdraw from competition to recover from nagging health issues.

“It was a very difficult decision, but my health is more important and I’m not in the best shape right now,” said Lee in an Instagram story post last week.

“I have been in and out of the gym just because there’s just so many doctor’s appointments, and I’m taking a lot of medication, so it kind of varies every day,” Lee told Olympics.com last month. “I could wake up very swollen some days and not be able to put my fingers inside my grips. It’s really difficult to kind of work through, but on the days that I can do stuff and I am feeling good, I try and take advantage of that and just get everything done.”

Leading the US women's team will be Simone Biles, who at the age of 26 is making a triumphant return to competitive gymnastics after she dropped out of the 2020 Olympics for mental health reasons. The same kidney-related condition was a factor in Lee dropping out of competing for Auburn University last year.

Joining Biles on the US team are two less familiar Asian Americans but who have been competing internationally for years: 2021 World all-around silver and floor exercise bronze medalist Leanne Wong, and 2021 World Championships all-around bronze medalist Kayla DiCello, who was named traveling replacement athlete.

Rounding out the team will be 2022 World all-around and uneven bars silver medalist Shi Jones; 2022 team gold medalist Skye Blakely; 2021 World all-around silver and first-time Worlds competitor, 2023 US vault champion Joscelyn Roberson.

The Worlds US team wa named following a second day of select routines Sept. 20. Also named were the US women's team for the Pan Am Games slated for Oct. 21-25 in Santiago, Chile.

DiCello will also compete in Santiago along with Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles; 2023 US floor exercise runner up and Winter Cup champion Kaliya Lincoln; 2023 Pan American Championships all-around, balance beam and team gold medalist Tiana Sumanasekera; and 2023 Winter Cup and Core Hydration Classic uneven bars champion Zoe Miller.

Sixteen-year old Sumanasekera, from Pleasanton, California, is the first Sri Lanka-born athlete to represent the US.

Suni Lee

Suni Lee, a Minneapolis-native, however, has no regrets for passing up this year's competitions. Her next goal is to prepare herself for next season’s tryouts for the 2024 Olympics.

“(It) was definitely a hard decision, but I’m 100% sure I made the right call in order to be my best for the upcoming year,” said Lee.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.