The True Greatness of Suni Lee: Overcoming Mental Health Issues in the AAPI Community

The 2024 Olympics have been such a joy to watch. I’ve seen incredible stories of passion and triumph over adversity, of caring for fellow competitors and teammates, of inspiration for future generations. We have the opportunity to watch not just team USA but other countries and cultures striving for greatness. I’ve seen beautiful diversity in strength and agility of human bodies and empathy across the divide, even amid conflict.

And one of my favorite people to watch is, of course, none other than the incredible Suni Lee.

When I was a child, my memories of the Olympics were mainly of the winter version for two reasons: Olympic medalists and world champions of figure skating, Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan. It was the first time I saw Asian-Americans competing on TV on a stage of international magnitude. Even though they weren’t Filipino, they felt close to me, as close as someone who looked like me.

Seeing Suni Lee, daughter of immigrants of Hmong heritage from Laos, soar through the air brought me back to being a child, marveling at how someone who looked like me and my loved ones… could fly. But what I love most about her is her willingness to speak out on her struggles, both in physical and mental health. After winning gold in Tokyo, she felt what many of us feel on a day to day basis in our non-Olympic lives: impostor syndrome. The weight on her young shoulders to see herself among the greatest gymnasts in history was immense. Sometimes I imagine the questions that may have come up for her: Could she do it again? Was that just some fluke? Did I trick everyone into thinking I was this good?

Before Paris, she had an unexpected and overwhelming illness of her kidneys that caused her to experience swelling throughout her body overnight, gain weight rapidly, put her under immense fatigue, and kept her from doing what she loved most. She was told she may never compete again, that her symptoms could evolve and get worse. She could have given up. She could have pushed herself harder and burned herself out.

Instead, she chose to rest. She did the hard work of looking within and grappling with the most difficult questions heath can bring about your identity and meaning in life. And she leaned in to her support system, citing constantly that she did not do this alone, that she leaned on her family, her friends, her medical team, her dog, her therapist, and her USA teammates to encourage her when she was down.

In an interview with NPR, Dr. Jenny Wang, licensed psychologist and founder of Asians for Mental Health, discussed how important it is for Asian-Americans to be able to reclaim our path to wellness and dispel the model minority myth that we don’t struggle, that we can’t ask for help, and that we don’t experience difficulty.

“The model minority … impacts mental health because it creates this facade that Asian Americans don't struggle, that they don't struggle with depression, that they are, you know, somehow just so, like, stoic and so mentally fit that they don't show any of that to the outside world. And I think this, coupled with the idea of saving face, which we don't air out our dirty laundry - right? - out into the world. We don't talk about our mental health or our family struggles with a stranger. That feels shameful, right? So that, coupled with a model minority, I think makes it difficult for us to admit when we are really struggling inside.”

- Dr. Jenny Wang, Life Kit Interview: 4 mental health issues Asian Americans face — and how to overcome them

I am forever grateful to the incredible AAPI women who are leading the charge and being vulnerable on such a public stage to allow for all of us to step into our own power and show the world where true greatness comes from: not because we are passive and compliant, not because we never struggle or complain, not because we work tirelessly and never stop hustling, but because we listen to our inner wisdom and connect to our community.