Team South Africa wins big at Special Olympics

On 7 March, we saw the departure of the Special Olympics South Africa National Team as they left to participate in the 2019 Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi, the biggest sporting and humanitarian event in the world.

The National Team had bagged 44 medals. Runner Kamogelo Moncho and swimmer David Coates took the lead with a double gold win each, with a number of their teammates also bringing home double medals.

The national team reached a tally of 20 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze and surpassed the tally of 15 gold medals received at the previous Summer World Games in Los Angeles. Seventy one team South Africa athletes competed against over 7 500 athletes from more than 190 countries.

A long list of local celebrities and supporters have posted messages of support for the team through the #backourteam campaign including Letshego Zulu, Kim Jayde, Melanie ‘Hypress’ Ramjee, Lynn Forbes and her superstar son AKA, Dimpie Dimpopo, Riky Rick, Kay Sibiya, Candice Abrahams, Stacey Holland, Bontle Modiselle, Priddy Ugly, Nomuzi Mabena, the cast from Uzalo, Gigi Lemanye, Courtnell Skhosana, Lee-Anne Dlamini and Lionel Mapoe among many others.

The Special Olympics World Games provides the platform for athletes with and without an intellectual disability to rise above the typical stereotype of daily exclusion by using sports as a catalyst to create an opportunity for athletes to be defined by their abilities rather than their disabilities.

 “Our 2019 Special Olympics South Africa National Team are already on their way to replicating the successes of the previous games and we as a nation are behind them 100 per cent. We look forward to more wins this week while we are already celebrating the current achievements of our super special team. Join me South Africa as we continue to #BackOurTeam,” the chairman of Special Olympics South Africa, Dr Mathews Phosa, said.

The Special Olympics South African National Team lands today, 22 March at OR Tambo International.