Boston Special Olympian Lumene Montissol
Although the Special Olympics USA Games won’t take place until 2022, local Boston Athlete Lumene Montissol deserves to be recognized with our other Olympians.
Lumene is a Special Olympics athlete from Boston who earned the nickname “Lightning” while running in the Boston City Track Championships in high school. And now she is bringing the storm to the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games in Orlando, Florida. Lumene was recently selected to represent Massachusetts when the best of the best compete for gold next June. She’ll be competing in track & field at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and was told of her selection by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America where she shared how important this opportunity is to her, “I have been waiting for this dream for a long time. I am very grateful, I’m so happy.” She also shared some words of inspiration for others who are following their dreams adding, “Keep believing in yourself. Keep training hard and be proud for who you are.”
Beyond her track experience, Lumene now uses her speed to help her teams succeed in soccer and basketball while still running track each spring. She competes year-round with the Milton Quincy local program and has been training hard throughout the pandemic to come out on the other side stronger and faster! For the past four years, Lumene has been a member of the New England Revolution Unified soccer team, playing in Gillette Stadium and traveling to Chicago and Washington, D.C. to represent Special Olympics Massachusetts and the Revs in the MLS Unified Exchange matches.
In addition to her experience on the playing field, Lumene has helped spread the mission of Special Olympics as an ambassador, speaking at events and on camera. In 2019, Lumene was joined on stage by Chairman, Tim Shriver where they spoke to over 2000 people at a college recreation conference in Boston. Lumene also works at Wegmans Grocery Store when not training to be as fast as humanly possible.
Lumene learns about her spot in the Special Olympics USA Games on Good Morning America
To support Special Olympics’ athletes, visit the USA Games here
