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Morning Edition
Cathy Wurzer and Gracie Stockton

Hmong senator en route to Paris to support Suni Lee, helped bring gymnastics trials to Minnesota

A gymnast executes an aerial move from balance beam
Gymnast Sunisa Lee trains on the balance beam during a training session ahead of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials at the Target Center in Minneapolis on June 26.
KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images

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Hmong Senator Foung Hawj, DFL-St. Paul is off to Paris to support Suni Lee. He was a sponsor of legislation which helped bring gymnastics trials to MN

About two dozen Minnesotans, including gold medalist and St. Paul native Suni Lee, will attend the unconventional and unprecedented Opening Ceremony of the Summer Games in Paris on Friday.

“She’s the next generation of my culture,” Sen. Foung Hawj, DFL-St. Paul, told Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer on Friday, as he packed his bags for a flight to France. Though he’s missing the Opening Ceremony, he’ll be there through the uneven bars final on Aug. 4.

Lee became the first Hmong American Olympian in 2020 when she represented Team USA in Tokyo. Hawj, who is also Hmong, said the whole community is excited about her return to the Olympics. He says he wishes economic challenges weren’t a barrier to more people supporting Lee in Paris. Hawj’s trip is not state-sponsored and he will be working throughout.

But he knew he couldn’t miss out on the once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“When you have Eastside daughters like Sunisa Lee going to have a chance to [get] gold and and do it again … Why not, you know, put the dollars where it is to be part of the moment and the part of history,” Hawj said.

Hawj pushed for the U.S. Olympics Gymnastics trials came to Minneapolis. He was the chief author of a 2023 bill to set up a fund to bid on bringing large sporting events to Minnesota.

“Suni Lee came to the capitol and met me with me and said, ‘It will be okay, it will be a well-worth investment,’” Hawj recalled, saying Lee recognized the fund would continue to generate revenue.

Around the trials in June, Minneapolis set a new record for hotel room revenue.

“She wasn’t wrong at all,” Hawj said. “I’m proud of all the young people surging up to be iconic members of our society and our state.”

Lee is joined by Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera on the U.S. women’s gymnastics Olympic team, along with alternates Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong. The Paris Summer Olympics begin July 26 and run through Aug. 11. Learn more about all the Minnesota Olympians and Paralympians competing in our guide.