VANCOUVER—Manitoulin Special Olympics (MSO) athletes have once again shown they are among the best anywhere, based on their results at the Special Olympics Canada National Games held over the past week in Vancouver.
“They did wonderfully, and I’m so proud of all of them,” said Janet Anning MSO coordinator and coach on Monday, a day after she and the five MSO athletes (who were part of Team Ontario) arrived back on Manitoulin Island from the national games. “Every one of them are gentlemen and sportsmen as well as being very competitive athletes.”
“Jeff Panamick has only been golfing for four years and he had improved enough to make Team Ontario which was a huge feat in itself,” said Ms. Anning. “And in the Nationals he moved up two levels. He was in the M5 division to start and moved to M3 in the tournament, so he is within the top 20 Special Olympic golfers in Canada. He has made us really proud and as he keeps getting better his results are only going to get better. I know the Team Ontario coaches have great hopes for him.”
The four other MSO athletes who were all part of Team Ontario garnered a total of 10 medals. “Austin Featherstone won gold medals in the 800 metre and his 1,500 metre races and gold in the 4×400 metre relay race,” said Ms. Anning. “He and Matthew Bedard were both part of the relay team that took gold.”
Along with his gold medal as part of the 4×400 metre relay race squad, Mr. Bedard earned a gold in the 1,500 metre race and a bronze medal in the high jump.
“Jamie Pyette got a gold medal in the high jump, being our first athlete to win a gold medal at the games,” said Ms. Anning. “He earned a gold medal in the 4×100 metre relay race too.”
As well, MSO athlete Mark Dokum earned a silver medal in both the 100 metre race and the shot put.
“It was a beautiful week and we had great, great weather-it was very hot,” Ms. Anning told the Recorder. “You certainly couldn’t complain about anything. Many of the athletes were competing in the national games for the first time and a lot of them said it was a hard games, the competition was so tough.”
Now the MSO members who competed in the nationals, “will have to wait and see if they have qualified for the World Special Olympic Games in 2015,” added Ms. Anning.
