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Day-by-Day Team Virginia Updates from China!
Oct. 16, 2007
With seven gold, six silver and five bronze medals, and four 4th place ribbons, Special Olympics Team Virginia has returned victorious -- and a little exhausted after a long plane ride home -- from the Special Olympics World Summer Games, which took place Oct. 2-11 in Shanghai, China. For more than two weeks in early October, World Games meant new friendships for Team Virginia's eight athletes, great success on the competition fields, and new sporting horizons for the people of China.
Below are the final results for each Team Virginia athlete. Congratulations to the team for a job well done!
- Jennifer Mitchell from Alexandria won a silver medal as a member of the 4X100M freestyle relay team. Jennifer also scored 3rd in the 100M backstroke, 3rd in the 200M backstroke and 4th in the 200M freestyle.
- Fredericksburg's Grace Anne Braxton took home the gold in the 18-hole women's competition.
- Jon Fried of Crozet took home the gold in the men's tennis doubles competition and the bronze in the men's singles competition.
- Winchester's Sterling Grooms also was a big winner, taking home second in the bench press competition and three gold medals -- in the dead lift, the squat and in overall men's combination lift category.
- Evelyn Aguirre of Fairfax scored 4th in the 50M run and silver in the softball throw.
- Joey Goodrich of Pearisburg took home second in the 100M run, second in the 4x100m relay and second in the shot-put.
- Melanie Norris of Virginia Beach secured two bronze medals -- one in the bowling doubles competition and the second in the bowling singles competition -- and also a 4th place in the bowling team competition.
- And Peter Zaino of Midlothian scored two gold medals this World Games -- one in the 25M butterfly and the second in the 4x50M relay (Peter swam the butterfly) -- he also took home 4th in the 50M freestyle competition.
Oct. 10, 2007
While the Special Olympics World Summer Games competition is almost at its end, we wanted to take a moment to recap the medal winnings to date. Congratulations Team Virginia and we'll see you soon! Enjoy tomorrow's (Oct. 11) closing ceremonies and have a safe trip home!
Jennifer Mitchell from Area 26 recently won a silver medal as a member of the 4X100M freestyle relay team. Previously, Jennifer scored 3rd in the 100M backstroke, 3rd in the 200M backstroke and 4th in the 200M freestyle!!
We also just learned that Grace Anne Braxton took home the gold in the 18-hole women's competition. In addition, Jon Fried took home the gold in the men's tennis doubles competition and the bronze in the men's singles competition. Sterling Grooms also is a big winner, taking home second in the dead lift competition and three(!!) gold medals -- in the dead lift, the squat and in overall men's combination lift category!!
In other great news, Evelyn Aguirre has scored 4th in the 50M run and silver in the softball throw! Joey Goodrich, who appears to have one more competition to go today, took home second in the 100M run and second in the shot-put! Melanie Norris has secured two bronze medals -- one in the bowling doubles competition and the second in the bowling singles competition -- and also a 4th place in the bowling team competition!
And last but definitely not least, Peter Zaino has scored two gold medals this World Games -- one in the 25M butterfly and the second in the 4x50M relay (Peter swam the butterfly) -- he also took home 4th in the 50M freestyle competition!
WAY TO GO TEAM VIRGINIA!
Oct. 9, 2007
It's been a busy few days of competition for Team Virginia, despite the heavy rains in China! Team Virginia athlete Evelyn Aguirre recently took the silver medal in the softball throw (see photo below). Joey Goodrich also won a silver medal in the 100 meter run and Melanie Norris took home the bronze in the bowling doubles competition (previously, Melanie took 4th place in the bowling team competition). Peter Zaino also took 4th place in the 50 meter freestyle swimming competition (Peter also has scored two gold medals - one in the 4x50 meter medley relay and the other in the 25 meter butterfly). Great job Team Virginia and Team USA!!
To follow each athletes progress directly, click here and enter the athlete's name. More to come soon!
Oct. 5, 2007
Congratulations to Team Virginia swimmer Peter Zanio! Peter took home the gold in the 4x50 medley relay. Peter swam the butterfly; the team's time was 3:47.90.
Karen (third from right; front row) readies for the Final Leg.
Special Olympics athlete Karen Dickerson just returned from China after running in the World Games Final Leg. Karen was one of only 10 Special Olympics athletes chosen to run the Final Leg at the World Games, and she made this extraordinary journey alongside Sergeant Brian C. Keenum of the Roanoke County Sheriff's Office, a Virginia Law Enforcement Torch Run participant and dedicated Special Olympics volunteer. Click here to read Karen's speech, which she delivered numerous times during her time in China!
Oct. 4, 2007
Team Virginia swimmer Jennifer Mitchell has just won a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke, with a time of 2:02:64. Congratulations, Jennifer!
Also, be sure to tune into ABC Family tonight, Oct. 4, for the Opening Ceremonies. The show runs from 5 – 7 p.m. (EST). Also, ESPN Star Sport, ESPN.com and ESPN 360 will all have daily highlights of the 2007 Games. Visit www.espn.com and www.espn360.com daily and search for Special Olympics to find all the great news! Finally, you can download the Opening Ceremonies video and the making of the show from i-Tunes. Visit www.apple.com/itunes/ and search for Special Olympics.
Oct. 3, 2007
The World Games team finished up the host town program Tuesday afternoon. It concluded with farewell banquets and entertainment from various performing groups. Our group was fortunate to see an extremely talented Chinese acrobat group. The Opening Ceremony was highlighted by MC Colin Farrell. Guest speakers included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tim Shriver, the President of China, Yao Ming (NBA player), and Jackie Chan (the movie star). The Opening Ceremony was a festival of colors and brilliant combinations of lights and fireworks. The Cauldron was a spectacular combination of fire and water. Today, our group visited the Healthy Athlete program, part of our group went to the US Consulate for lunch, and many other teams trained and visited their competition venues.
-- Submitted by Dave Pawlowski, Special Olympics Virginia
Oct. 2, 2007
Today marked the Opening Ceremonies for the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games! Be sure to tune in to the ABC Family Channel this Thursday, Oct. 4, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., as they will televise the event. Also, ESPN 360.com has posted a live video of the ceremonies, so visit the site to watch the spectacular event. (Once you get to the site, you may need to install the video player; from there, click "launch video player"; once the new site opens, scroll down the "Programming Guide" to the right and find Special Olympics -- Team USA enters the stadium at about 1 hour and 10 minutes into the program.)
Beginning today, Oct. 2, Good Morning America will feature teasers and footage of the Games, as well as highlights on the Team USA gymnasts - other highlights on the gymnastics team are expected on ABC so stay tuned to the various news shows in the coming days, too!
Finally, Special Olympics International has launched www.specialolympicslive.org -- this Web site will capture footage on every single athlete attending the Games so that we can see the Team Virginia athletes competing in Shanghai! The athlete videos will begin being uploaded Oct. 3. Prior to that, visit the Web site for general information on China and Shanghai.
Oct. 1, 2007
 As part of the host town program, Team Virginia has been visiting many communities in the Shanghai region. Today, the group visited a middle school and played various physically active games. The picture at the right is of Team Virginia athlete Joey Goodrich playing a typical Chinese game using a wooden paddle and an object made of a stopper and three feathers. The game, similar to badminton, requires you to hit the stopper against the paddle -- you can also play with a partner by hitting the stopper back and forth. At the end of the day, the teacher at the school gave the athletes several paddles and the feather objects to take home.
While the host town program ends tomorrow, the athletes are excited for the start of the games. Since their arrival, they've also spent time in the homes of the people from Shanghai, getting to know the families and eating lunch. This personal time with the families has been very special to the athletes, who constantly are learning new things about the Chinese culture.
-- Submitted by Dave Pawlowski, Special Olympics Virginia
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