MINNEAPOLIS — Peachtree City native Lani De Mello has been named the winner of the USA Gymnastics' 2024 Robert Miller Spirit of the Flame Award.
De Mello has spent her life defying doctor expectations and pioneering inclusion for athletes with disabilities. She was born with Down Syndrome and a heart defect. Doctors expected her to spend her life in a wheelchair with physical and intellectual disabilities. Instead, she's spent the last 25 years competing and winning at national and world levels.
De Mello trains at Chattooga Gymnastics in Marietta. She competes in USA Gymnastics’ HUGS and Rhythmic Xcel programs, and for two seasons was active in the Junior Olympic program.
She was the 2015 all-around World champion and 2017 rope champion in Down Syndrome Gymnastics, has won numerous gold medals in the Georgia Xcel program as well as the HUGS program and has been a member of the U.S. delegation to five World Gymnaestradas and three Gym for Life World Challenges.
De Mello also has won HUGS gold medals in trampoline and tumbling. In 2019, she was the U.S. champion in the first Wheel Nationals that included athletes with disabilities. De Mello has competed in Germany, Estonia, Canada, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Austria, South Africa, Norway, Italy, Greece and more.
“Lani exemplifies determination, course, strength and leadership in the most extraordinary way,” Cindy Bickman, De Mello's coach since 1999, said in a press release. “She has crossed over into mainstream competition and assumed leadership roles in the sport. Because of gymnasts like Lani, the U.S. leads the world in opportunities for inclusion.”
Off the competition floor, De Mello also finds time to work as a speaker and presenter. She has been an assistant presenter at the USA Gymnastics National Congress and assisted in presentations at World Gymnaestrada. She has been an international technical official to the Special Olympics World Games - where she was also a gold medalist - twice and is a peer coach for athletes with disabilities.
The Robert Miller Spirit of the Flame Award is presented by the USA Gymnastics Athletes’ Council to recognize "individuals in the sport of gymnastics who have demonstrated leadership, strength and determination in an extraordinary way."
De Mello received her award on June 29 at the 2024 USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
