Special Olympians bring back the hardware

| 07/08/2015
Cayman News Service

Special Olympics Cayman Islands team at Owen Roberts Airport

(CNS): The Special Olympics Cayman Islands team came home from Los Angeles this week with 52 medals in their luggage after a massively successful competition. The team bagged 21 gold, 11 silver and 20 bronze medals and the athletes also recorded many personal bests in their events — an experience of a lifetime for the team. But officials said the medal haul wasn’t easily won and the Cayman team put in the work to get them.

Toni Johnson, head of the delegation, described the team as “super athletes” who “stepped up to the plate and did their best” in a very tough competition in which all the athletes were there to win.

Around 6,500 athletes took part in the Games, competing in hundreds of events in the pool, on the pitch and round the track. The athletes performed in front of hundreds of thousands of fans, which was the first time many of the Cayman team had competed in front of so many people.

Speaking to Cayman 27 this week, the sports minister urged the local community to go out and support the SOCI athletes in future so they can get used to competing in front of crowds, which is very different from competing in an empty stadium.

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Category: Sports

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