Background
Luiz Altamir Lopes Melo was born on May 9, 1996 in Boa Vista, Brazil.
International Competition
2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships (Dubai, UAE)
In Dubai, Melo placed 5th in the 200 butterfly, 8th in the 200 free, and 10th in 400, Freestyle.
2014 Summer Youth Olympics (Nanjing, China)
Luiz was part of a silver medal winning 4×100 Freestyle relay, and placed 5th in the 200 butterfly and 7th in both the 200 and 400 free.
2015 Pan American Games (Toronto, Canada)
In Toronto, Luiz was part of the gold medal winning 4×200 freestyle relay. The foursome broke the Pan Am Games record with a time of 7:11.15.
The same year at the World Aquatic Championships in Kazan, the Brazilian relay finished 15th in 4×200 freestyle.
In December, at the Palhoca, Luiz earned his Olympic qualifying time in the 400 Freestyle with a time of 3:50.32, just .7 seconds shy of the South American Record.
2016 Olympics (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Luiz represented Brazil in the 400 Freestyle at his 1st Olympics, placing 32nd overall.
2018 Short Course World Championships (Hangzhou, China)
In Hangzhou, Luiz was a part of the Brazilian 4×200 free relay that shocked the world by not only capturing gold, but smashing the world record in the process. Luiz led the relay off in 1:42.03.
2019 Pan American Games (Lima, Peru)
Luiz continued his breakout season in Lima, where he won a medal of each color. He once again helped Brazil to a gold in the 4×200 free relay, leading off in a personal best of 1:48.10.
Melo went on to win bronze in the 400 free individually in another personal best of 3:49.91, and also swam butterfly on the prelims 4×100 medley relay, which won silver in the final.
