Covid-19 may have disrupted the New Zealand Special Olympics team’s preparation for the World Summer Games, but their performance at the event in June didn’t show any sign of that disruption. Held in Berlin, Germany, the World Summer Games hosted 7000 athletes from 190 countries.
On Friday 30 June 2023, the New Zealand team arrived home from the Games where they picked up a haul of medals in a variety of sports including swimming, mini basketball, ten-pin bowling.
The Games were propelled to a new level with more media interest and television coverage of events. Sky TV screened a 2 hour Games special on its ESPN Sports channel.
The New Zealand team of 39 athletes who came from as far south as Invercargill and Great Barrier Island were selected from the National Games held in December 2022 which were pushed back from December 2021 because of covid-19, giving the team less than six months to prepare and train for the international competition.
They brought home a total of 34 medals in nine sports including bocce, athletics, ten pin bowling, basketball, football, equestrian, powerlifting, swimming and golf. The final medal tally was five gold, 17 silver and 12 bronze. Many personal bests were also achieved.
A huge congratulations to the team for their success!
Photo courtesy of Special Olympics.
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