21 British Athletes Heading To World Winter Games Austria 2017

The Special Olympics World Winter Games is one of the biggest events in the movement’s global calendar and held every four years and Special Olympics GB have announced a team of 21 athletes with intellectual (learning) disabilities – eleven Alpine Skiers and ten Figure Skaters – will represent their country at the 2017 World Winter Games.

This sporting showpiece event will be held in Schladming, Austria from 14th – 25th March 2017 with a spectacular opening ceremony on 18th March 2017 and with Arnold Schwarzenneger as the president of the Games.

The full delegation of athletes and coaches is:

Sport	Surname	Name	Position	Club	Region	Home Town
	Williams	Alex	Head of Delegation	Carmarthenshire	Wales	Llandeilo
	Purdie	Adrienne	Assistant Head of Delegation	Grampian	Scotland	Aberdeen
	Onley	Emily	Special Olympics GB	Special Olympics GB	Special Olympics GB	Special Olympics GB
Alpine Skiing	de Vanney	Liam	Head Coach	South East Ski Group	South East	Bromley
Alpine Skiing	Jesse	Pete	Coach	Surrey	South East	Farnham
Alpine Skiing	Murphy	Josh	Coach	Event Team	East Midlands	Willerby
Alpine Skiing	Cain	Lauren	Athlete	Grampian	Scotland	Aberdeen
Alpine Skiing	Charleston	Tyler	Athlete	Carmarthenshire	Wales	Llanelli
Alpine Skiing	Corr	David	Athlete	Rossendale Special Ski Club	North West	Chorley
Alpine Skiing	Coulon	Anthony	Athlete	South East Ski Group	South East	Great Bookham
Alpine Skiing	Desmond	Joanne	Athlete	City of Birmingham	West Midlands	Sutton Coldfield
Alpine Skiing	Millard	James	Athlete	West Midlands Ski Group	West Midlands	Wolverhampton
Alpine Skiing	Oosthuizen	Karen	Athlete	Surrey	South East	New Malden
Alpine Skiing	Owen	Rebecca	Athlete	Rossendale Special Ski Club	North West	Bacup
Alpine Skiing	Payne	Lauren	Athlete	South East Ski Group	South East	New Eltham
Alpine Skiing	Scarborough	Alexander	Athlete	Surrey	South East	Farnham
Alpine Skiing	Stephen	Owen	Athlete	Grampian	Scotland	Drumoak
Figure Skating	Chatwin	Louisa	Head Coach	Nottinghamshire	East Midlands	Selston
Figure Skating	Crocker	Paul	Coach	South East Hampshire	Southern	Gosport
Figure Skating	Richardson-Delaney	Pam	Coach	Merseyside	North West	Altrincham
Figure Skating	Stokes	Ann	Coach	Scotland West	Scotland	Coatbridge
Figure Skating	Carruthers	Eloise	Athlete	Essex	Eastern	Chelmsford
Figure Skating	Gott	Steph	Athlete	Merseyside	North West	Runcorn
Figure Skating	Lee	Jenny	Athlete	Bradford	Yorkshire & Humberside	Keighley
Figure Skating	McFarlane	Meg	Athlete	Nottinghamshire	East Midlands	Newark
Figure Skating	McNeil	Heather	Athlete	Scotland West	Scotland	Airdrie
Figure Skating	McSalley	Jonathan	Athlete	Scotland West	Scotland	Coatbridge
Figure Skating	Mills	Callum	Athlete	Nottinghamshire	East Midlands	Mansfield
Figure Skating	Montgomery	Courtney	Athlete	Scotland West	Scotland	Cumbernauld
Figure Skating	Titmus	Calum	Athlete	Peterborough	Eastern	Great Gidding
Figure Skating	Watson	Graeme	Athlete	Scotland West	Scotland	Coatbridge

 

The Special Olympics World Winter Games is the world’s largest sports and humanitarian event in 2017 and will welcome almost 3,000 Special Olympics athletes from 110 nations to compete in nine Olympic-type winter sports.

It’s a return to the venue of the fifth Special Olympics World Winter Games which were held in 1993 in Schladming.  Back then around 1,600 athletes from 63 nations competed in five sports in those Games, the first World Games held outside the United States, showing the growth of the event in the more than two decades since.

“On behalf of our entire Special Olympics movement worldwide, I am thrilled to award our 2017 World Games to Graz and Schladming in the beautiful state of Styria,” said Tim Shriver, Global Chairman of Special Olympics, “It is fitting that we would return to a country that has demonstrated its commitment to people with intellectual disabilities for decades and will embrace our athletes from around the world.”