Sunisa Lee joins the unveiling of her new bronze statue at St. Paul's Phalen Park

Sunisa Lee was taken by surprise with a bronze bust of herself at St. Paul Phalen Park in Minnesota. Lee unveiled the new bust in the park, marking the two-year anniversary of her victory at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The Minnesota-born artistic gymnast won a gold medal in women's artistic individual all-around event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The mayor of Minnesota had declared July 30, 2021, as "Sunisa Lee Day" in the athlete's honor.

Lee was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on March 9, 2003. Apart from winning the all-around event, she won silver in the women's artistic team all-around and bronze in women's uneven bars at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Lee replaced Simone Biles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after the latter withdrew from competition to prioritize her mental health. Lee substituted Biles to perform floor exercises. The 20-year-old performed all three routines, including the uneven bars, and helped the USA women's gymnastics team to secure second place behind the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee).

Lee is the first-ever female athlete to be commemorated at St. Paul Park. The unveiling took place along Lake Phalen. The statue was built by Seexeng Lee, a relative of Sunisa Lee. It took him less than a year to design and create the bust.

Apart from winning gold at the Olympics, Lee has also won medals at the World Championships. She won three medals at the 2019 World Championship in Stuttgart, including a gold in team, a silver in floor exercises, and a bronze in uneven bars.

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Sunisa Lee to compete in 2024 Paris Olympics after recovering from kidney issue

Sunisa Lee performing on the Balance Beam in women's all-around event at the 2020 Summer Olympics at Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, Japan

A few months ago, Sunisa Lee announced that she was temporarily stepping away from gymnastics over a health problem. Lee, who was a part of the Auburn Tigers Women’s Gymnastics team, had to end her college gymnastics career early.

Despite her college career ending prematurely, she still hopes to represent the United States of America at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Undeterred by her illness, Lee has set her eyes on a spot to compete at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Lee recently took to her Instagram to share a training video of her performing the routine.

"Still here", she captioned the video

The gymnast has committed herself to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.