Seven skiers from across Great Britain who were chosen to represent their country at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in South Korea which took place in PyeongChang, South Korea from 26th January – 6th February 2013 have just returned home with a remarkable 13 medals between them – which includes six Gold, four Silver and three Bronze, a record haul for the GB team.
Over 100 nations took part in the event in South Korea, with 2,800 athletes with intellectual disabilities taking part.
The ‘magnificent seven’ Special Olympics GB (www.sogb.org.uk) skiers who were chosen from 73 skiers with intellectual (learning) disabilities who qualified at Special Olympics Great Britain’s National Alpine Ski Championships in Pila, Italy, last year.
The individual skier results are::
Elizabeth Allen (Llanelli): 2 Gold and 1 Silver
Jane Andrews (Tunbridge Wells): 2 Gold
Robert Holden (Rossendale): 1 Gold and 2 Silver
Clare Lines (Redditch): 2 Bronze
Wayne McCarthy (Biggin Hill): 1 Gold and 1 Silver
Luke Purdie (Aberdeen): 4th, 7th and 8th place ribbons
Mikael Undrom (Cobham): 1 Bronze
“I would like to thank our seven skiers for representing Great Britain in South Korea at the World Winter Games with such pride, passion and honour,” said Special Olympics GB CEO Karen Wallin
“This is a fantastic number of medals and each one of our skiers performed at their very own personal best.”
The year-round sports coaching and events provided by Special Olympics in Great Britain is clinically proven to positively change the quality of lives of our athletes. Almost 1.2 million people in Great Britain (2% of the population) have an intellectual disability.
Recent research from Canterbury Christchurch University shows that those who did participate in Special Olympics had a higher self-esteem than those who did not take part. Higher self-esteem leads to more feelings of self-worth and more self-care. Findings also concluded that those involved in Special Olympics had wider social networks and lower stress levels