Sunisa Lee wins gold in women's gymnastics all-around event for Team USA

Sunisa Lee won the gold medal for Team USA in the women's gymnastics all-around event on Thursday, the Associated Press reported via ESPN early this morning.

Lee, 18, became the fifth straight American woman to stand atop the podium. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil took silver and Russian gymnast Angelina Melnikova earned bronze.

The two gymnasts were neck and neck heading into their floor routines at the end of the night. Lee had dominated in her uneven bars routine earlier that night but had to hold on to execute a wolf turn in a nerve-wracking beam routine and maintain the edge on Andrade. The Minnesota native took a risk in doing three tumbling passes instead of four, but her execution topped that of Andrade, who stepped out of bounds during her own routine.

Lee, a Hmong American, is also the third straight woman of color to win Olympic gold for the U.S. along with Gabby Douglas in 2012 and Simone Biles in 2016.