St. Paul native Suni Lee won gold in a tightly-contested women's gymnastics all-around competition early Thursday morning. With the gold medal, Lee is the fifth-straight American woman in a row to win gold in the Olympic all-around event.
Lee led Brazil's Rebeca Andrade by just one-tenth of a point headed into the final floor rotation. Angelina Melnikova of Russian Olympic Committee pulled ahead early on floor, but Lee pulled ahead and stayed there scoring 57.433 compared to Andrade's 57.298.
Headed into Tokyo, Simone Biles was a favorite to defend her 2016 title, but withdrew from the event citing mental health concerns.
Lee, who ranked just below Biles for the past few years, is the first Hmong American to make the Olympic team.