Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee says she was pepper sprayed in racist attack
Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee said she was recently pepper sprayed in an anti-Asian attack.
Lee told Pop Sugar that she was out with her friends and waiting for an Uber, when a car drove by yelling slurs such as "ching chong" and telling them to "go back to where they came from."
She also said that she was also pepper-sprayed on her arm as the car sped off.
"I was so mad, but there was nothing I could do or control because they skirted off," she said. "I didn't do anything to them, and having the reputation, it's so hard because I didn't want to do anything that could get me into trouble. I just let it happen."
In April, U.S. karate Olympian Sakura Kokumai, was training at a Southern California park when a man started yelling at her about being Chinese as he drove away. Kokumai is Japanese American.
The man was later arrested for making threats.
The 18-year-old Lee, who also won a silver medal in the artistic team all-around and a bronze in the uneven bars at the Tokyo Olympics, is currently on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" and is committed to competing in gymnastics at Auburn University.
"I lost my whole childhood to gymnastics," she said. "Since I sacrificed all of that, I wanted to have the college experience and get what I couldn't have [in high school] . . . I wanted to be treated normal."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Suni Lee: Olympic gold medal gymnast says she was pepper sprayed
