Purpose Over Podium, NAIGC Gymnastics Omnithon Superwoman Angela Fuller Inspired By Chellsie Memmel

With the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships kicking off Thursday in New Orleans, hundreds of Elite artistic gymnasts from around the country will assemble to compete for National Team spots, All-Around and individual event titles, and for a select few, an opportunity to advance to World Championship selection camps for the chance to compete in the individual World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia in October. They’re building their resumes, beginning the road to LA 2028, and dreaming new dreams.

Angela Fuller was also once an inspiring national championship competitor with Olympic dreams. Today, she’s (re)building her own career at the age of 45 and checking off a new list of exciting goals. Most importantly, she’s having a blast doing it.

In April 2025, as an adult gymnast, Fuller completed the NAIGC Omnithon, gaining her own superhero status. Competing in the Omnithon means competing in 14 events—Men’s and Women’s Vault and Floor, Pommel Horse, Rings, Parallel Bars, High Bar, Uneven Bars, Synchro Trampoline, Double Mini Trampoline, Individual Trampoline, and Power Tumbling. In short, it’s crazy difficult and the ultimate test of endurance, strength, sheer will, and ultimately, character. For Fuller, it was also truly the stuff dreams are made of.

“Still soaking in the experience of NAIGC Nationals last weekend and reflecting on the journey through some of my favorite photo memories,” she posted on Instagram following the competition. “These moments capture the strength, power, and grace it took to chase a dream I once thought was out of reach. This Nationals wasn’t just a competition—it was a dream realized. I became the oldest gymnast in history to complete the full NAIGC Omnithon: all 14 events across men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, trampoline, and tumbling. It was a feat fueled by grit, faith, and a whole lot of heart. Earning 2nd place in the Men’s All-Around, 2nd on Parallel Bars, and 3rd on Vault—was just a bonus.”

No Boundaries, No Limits

With its profile rising across gymnastics circles everywhere, adult gymnastics has provided an incredible outlet for so many athletes to continue their careers long after they thought the chalk dust had settled. The sport offers a way to stay fit, stay competitive, and for so many, to stay dreaming and reaching for their next goal. The NAIGC’s motto, “For the Love of the Sport” represents the organization’s strong commitment to providing a community for adult gymnasts at all ages (18+) and all skill levels. The ultimate goal is to have fun, create community, and never set limits on what’s possible in sports and life. 

Fuller lives that motto every day and has challenged herself to go beyond even what she thought, at one time, seemed impossible.

When I spoke with Fuller, her story was so inspiring and so motivating that I couldn’t help but want to jump in the car and head to the closest gym. I settled for a makeshift balance beam in my backyard. For now, anyway. 

Fuller and I found a quick camaraderie and had a lot in common. So much so that a planned 30-minute interview turned into a two-hour conversation—one of those you didn’t know your soul needed until it happened.

You see, Fuller’s career is a story of passion, drive, and strength. Training and competing in adult gymnastics is a huge part of that, and she’s using her energy, new journey, and new success to inspire everyone she can. 

“It’s been incredible,” she said. “I think that, obviously, anytime I get to talk about adult gymnastics, I get so excited. I knew what I accomplished at Nationals was really cool. I didn’t know what a big deal it was. But, you know, meeting with media, they’re like, ‘Angela, this is huge. You’re showing every woman in America that you’re not done, that you never expire, that you can do, you know, gymnastics forever.’”

Fuller’s journey through gymnastics is also framed by resilience. She competed in artistic gymnastics until the age of 14, and later was involved in a car accident resulting in a back injury. Becoming a mom and a fitness instructor followed, along with a go on American Ninja Warrior season 15. Returning to gymnastics was always on her mind, but Fuller had no idea what opportunities were even out there.

Chellsie Memmel Has Entered The Chat

“Chellise was it,” Fuller said. “I was a gymnast until I was 14, and then I had to leave it due to an injury. I was out of the sport for 27 years, and I dreamt of flipping and flying all those years. Unfortunately, I was in a car accident and had a back injury. I had babies, and I never thought going back to gymnastics was really an option, but I had a lot of unfinished business.

“I was learning giants right before I left the sport. That was like the one skill I really wanted to do. I saw Chellsie Memmel go back as a mom. That was a big thing. I think other women can understand as a mom, especially coming back from giving birth is very difficult to go into gymnastics. I knew she was an Olympic gymnast, and I never was an Olympic gymnast. But I think as females, sometimes we need to see somebody lead the way and show us that it’s possible. She was that for me.”

Memmel earned a total of six World medals (three gold, three silver) and an Olympic silver medal during her highly impressive competitive career. An alternate to the 2004 Olympic team, Memmel won the 2005 World All-Around title, becoming the first American to take the crown since Shannon Miller did it in 1994. Memmel continued in the sport until 2012 when she retired, until a return to competition in 2021 where she qualified for the U.S. Championships in a run for the Tokyo Olympic team. 

Memmel is currently the technical lead for the women’s artistic program in the U.S. She helped guide the U.S. women’s team to gold in 2024, and is busy leading the next generation on the road to LA 2028 and beyond. 

Before her official Elite comeback, Memmel began posting videos of her involvement in adult gymnastics while simultaneously challenging herself to regain her most difficult skills. “#chellsiesadultgymnasticsjourney” started trending across the gymternet as Memmel ramped up her skillset and gained a new set of fans inspired by her journey, and encouraged athletes like Fuller to give gymnastics another go.

“That part of it has been amazing and a little bit overwhelming,” Memmel told me in our November 2020 Inside Gymnastics magazine cover story. “The coolest part of it was that people reached out to me and they’re trying gymnastics again. Or, not even just gymnastics, but when people tell me they’re taking a dance class again or that they’ve started running again—that they’re doing something they love to do—that part of it has been the most special. To truly understand the effect, especially over social media which I kind of fought against, but to feel connected to people and to be encouraged that way is really special.”

Watching Memmel’s success grow, Fuller Googled ‘adult gymnastics’ and the rest was history.

“I found 5280 Gymnastics in Colorado. I signed up for a class and then they invited me on the team. It snowballed from there,” Fuller said. “I went to Chellsie’s camp last summer and met her. And she’s incredible. She’s so humble. And I just loved it. You would never know she was an Olympic gymnast the way she was with us. The coaching was unbelievable at that camp. It was pretty amazing to meet the woman who inspired my entire comeback.

“I think it’s great that [Chellsie came back]. I also want people to see that normal people can come back too. I wasn’t an Olympic gymnast. I wasn’t Elite. I was a lower level gymnast. But I had unfinished business. That’s what I want to show people.”

Superhero

As a fitness instructor, Fuller was in shape to journey back into gymnastics and immediately was reminded of everything from the smell of the chalk and sweat to the sound of the springboard, to the thud of the mats every time someone landed. Never one to hold back or ease in, Fuller (literally) jumped right back into what she loved.

“I immediately went over to bars and started swinging to get ready to learn giants! I kind of jumped right back in (laughing)! I was shocked at the muscle memory! Everything came back really quickly. I was a level 7 when I left, and now I’m a level 6 Excel Platinum. I started off small—cartwheels, roundoffs, back handsprings, and backflips. Slowly, I started progressing my skills. I did get my dream skill because I got it on strap bar. I got giants! Then I wanted to do them off the strap bar and I got a couple of giants into a double back flyway into the pit at 41. So that was really exciting!”

When I asked Fuller about any fear factor of jumping back into giants, she laughed and let me in on a little more of what went down with doing a giant so soon. (She’ll also choose bars over beam any day of the week, she said!)

“It’s a funny story. So I never learned it—I had just started when I left 27 years ago. And I just went for it in the pit, and my coach is screaming. He’s like, ‘are you serious!?’ And I did it! He asked me how I knew how to do it and I said, “I dreamt about it for 27 years!” I can’t even explain it, especially being sidelined for so many years as an athlete. I just knew in my heart that I could come back and learn that skill.”

Soon, the idea of competing again enticed Fuller, and the NAIGC came calling. Competing again and finding a new community and fulfillment in even the smallest day-to-day successes quickly restored Fuller’s joy for gymnastics. Every accomplishment is celebrated. It’s a big part of what she loves so much about adult gymnastics and competing in the NAIGC.

“The sport is so much more fun now. It’s so supportive at Nationals—everybody’s cheering everybody on. You can look at one mat and they’re doing cartwheels and forward rolls, and you see another mat and they’re D1 level-gymnast doing double backs. We’re all here just because we love gymnastics.”

This Is 45

Fuller feels better and stronger than ever, and much like Memmel’s, hopes her own story will inspire others to try adult gymnastics, or anything they’ve had on their heart to pursue. 

“There’s so much cheering, there’s so much encouragement, and it’s just totally different,” she said. “It’s kind of a funny story, too. I don’t even look at my scores. I had no idea I even placed at Nationals until the awards ceremony. I was crying. It’s such a beautiful thing because instead of focusing on the award, I focus on the love of gymnastics. The award is just icing on the cake. At 44, I don’t need the validation of the medal. The whole experience is just so magical to be back out there, and I just want everybody to feel that, too.

“I’m much more mentally strong as an adult than I was as a child. I also do it for the love of the sport. When I was little, I was trying to get validation from my coaches, from my parents, from everyone. I had to be on the podium. Now I always say ‘purpose over podium’ because scores are so secondary for me. It’s really all about being out there and doing what I love.”

Fuller, who celebrated her 45th birthday by keeping up her annual tradition of doing birthday giants, shows no signs of slowing down. She’s busy preparing for the 2026 season. And with passion fueling her day to day workouts, she’s been able to put her entire career into perspective. Quite simply, because of adult gymnastics and the doors it’s opened, there’s no stopping Fuller when it comes to the next goal or the next dream. 

“We’ve opened up these doors where so many more people can experience gymnastics,” she said. “It just makes my heart so happy.”

See more on Angela Fuller in the September/October issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine!

Follow Angela Fuller @colofitnesschick

For more information on the NAIGC and how to get involved, Click Here!

For our 2025 Xfinity U.S. Championships Senior Women’s Preview, Click Here!

For our 2025 Xfinity U.S. Championships Senior Men’s Preview, Click Here!

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