Dozens were at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport Sunday to welcome home Olympic gymnast Suni Lee.
The St. Paul native arrived home from Paris after winning two bronze individual medals, along with a gold for Team USA's overall championship.
Among those welcoming Lee home was one of her former coaches, Punnarith Koy.
"Tremendously proud," Koy says. "You know, she had taken her place as an icon in U.S. Gymnastics. I used to pick her from school every day. It was hard to believe that in a year from now she's going to be internationally famous."
Suni has won six medals in two Olympic appearances, including the gold as the all-around champion at the Tokyo games.
It was friends and family time on Sunday though. Many of them told WCCO-TV about watching Suni grow into an international gymnastics star.
"She is literally the manifestation of every dream that they could have had, that could have been the possibility of being here in this country," says a family friend. "And so, like she represents more than just a hero and somebody who we love in sports. She represents all that we fight for, the freedoms and the opportunities we have in this country. I mean, it's big, it's big for us."
It hasn't been easy for Lee. The process of trying to navigate two kidney diseases that made the 2020 Olympic gymnastics champion’s weight yo-yo had become too much. The uncertainty. The frustration. All of it.
She overcame all of that, got back in shape in time for the U.S. Trials at Target Center where she sparkled in her own backyard of Minneapolis, and returned to that familiar spot on the medal stand.
Sunday night during the closing ceremonies in Paris, attention started to turn to the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. As for future plans and possible participation, Lee has remained pretty vague only saying she's excited to start her post-Olympic life. She plans to move to New York and is unsure if she'll return to college at Auburn.
“I don’t know how much gymnastics I’ll be doing during that time, but maybe L.A. in 2028. We’ll see," Lee told the magazine Elle prior to competing in Paris.
For now, she returns home the hero to her family, friends, and all of Minnesota for the second straight Olympics.