Olympic gold medalist Sunisa Lee has spoken out about a racist pepper spray attack she recently experienced when she was the subject of a hate crime.
Lee, who won gold in the women's gymnastics all-around at this summer's Tokyo Games, opened up about the recent incident in an interview with PopSugar.
According to the 18-year-old athlete, the encounter took place in Los Angeles while she was waiting for an Uber with a group of friends also of Asian descent.
The Dancing with the Stars contestant said that as they stood there, a group sped past in a car and yelled racist slurs at her and her friends. As well as telling them to "go back to where they came from," one member of the gang even sprayed pepper spray, some of which hit Lee on the arm.
Though the incident was terrifying, the teenage gymnast was above all frustrated that she had not been able to do anything about it.
"I was so mad, but there was nothing I could do or control because they skirted off," she told PopSugar. "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."
As well as being the first Asian American woman to win gold in the all-around category, Lee is also the first Hmong American gymnast to qualify for the Olympics.
She has previously spoken proudly of her joint heritage, and the close Hmong American community she grew up in. During the Tokyo Games, Lee's parents organized a party that hundreds of Hmong American's from all over the country attended to watch Lee compete.
Lee tweeted a video of the party after seeing the celebration. "The people I do it all for," she wrote. "I LOVE YOU ALL."
The news of Lee's attack comes amid a dramatic rise in assaults on Asian Americans, The Washington Post reports.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, attacks targeting Asian people or those of Asian descent are estimated to have jumped by 73%.
In June, advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate counted more than 9,000 self-reported incidents of hate against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since March 2020. Evidence suggests that a disproportionate number of attacks are against women.
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