PARIS, France — Participation in adult gymnastics is soaring, and 44-year-old Angela Fuller is all in. She's much older than Simone Biles, the oldest member of the 2024 U.S. Olympic gymnastic team.
She quit in her teens after an injury, only to feel the itch to return while watching then 33-year-old mother of two Chellsie Memmel compete at the 2021 U.S. championships. Also a mom of two, Fuller now competes at 5280 Gymnastics outside Denver.
“Flying in the air and flipping, there’s no better feeling. It sets my soul on fire,” Fuller said.
The demographics surrounding the sport are shifting, and not just at the elite level, where Simone Biles, 27, and the oldest women's team the U.S. has ever sent to the Olympics — the aptly nicknamed “Golden Girls” — returned to the top of the podium in the team final on Tuesday night.
On Thursday, Biles will try to become the oldest Olympic all-around champion in 72 years. Her stiffest competition figures to come from 25-year-old Brazilian Rebeca Andrade in an event that also includes Ellie Black of Canada and Filipa Martins of Portugal, both 28.
Their longevity is reflective of a global movement of a sport long considered the realm of the very young. Not so much anymore, as doors long thought shut have swung back open.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs serves as a landing spot for gymnasts over 18 at the non-elite, non-NCAA level. While the majority of its membership consists of college students who compete as part of a club, it also offers a “non-student” division, meaning anyone at any age can compete at one of its meets, including its national championships.
Fuller and her peers are not doing this because their parents signed them up. Most of them have families and careers. Their relationship with the sport has evolved from something they are to something they do, a critical shift.
Fuller spent decades bothered by both an ankle injury from the balance beam and the constant sense she needed to excel to earn validation from her parents.
It's not that way anymore. She is part of an adult team at 5280 that boasts more than 40 members. She travels all over the world competing, sometimes in both men's and women's events.
Competing while raising two teenage boys requires late practice nights and frequent travel. Fuller said it’s worth it.
“Chasing my dreams means so much to me, and showing them that they can face their fears and concur any obstacle is incredible,” she said.