2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games-Team Seychelles return to heroes' welcome |17 October 2007

The six athletes, their two coaches and head of delegation Annette Domingue had just stepped off a gruelling 17-hour flight from Shanghai, China via Doha (Qatar) from the Special Olympics World Summer Games, but there was no sign of tiredness when they were led out to the VIP lounge after having received flowers.

The triumphant Seychelles team of disabled athletes claimed six gold medals and six ribbons in just one sport – track and field athletics – they participated in.

The Seychellois gold medallists are Diguois Steven Ernesta (400m M12 race in 58.05 seconds and 800m M09 race in 2:28.25), Medine Olivia (50m M11 race in 10.71 seconds), Rosie Corallie (200m F22 race in 35.86 seconds), Diana Valentin (shot putt throw F15 with 3.46m) and Lorna Lespoir (400m F14 race in 1:25.05).

Joel Julie, 26, is the only local athlete who failed to win a medal at these Games. He missed out on a podium finish in the 200m (M16) with a time of 27.04 seconds for fourth place and finished seventh in the 100m race (M23) in 13.30 seconds.

With his two gold medals dangling from his neck, Diguois Ernesta, who before going to Shanghai represented Seychelles in the Seventh Indian Ocean Islands Games in Antananarivo, Madagascar but did not win any medal, told Sports Nation that “winning the two gold medals is something great and I was expecting it.”

Corallie, 32, said that “I did it (win the 200m F22 gold medal) through sheer determination.”
Thirty-one-year-old Lespoir said “I wanted to win a gold medal and I’ve done it”, while Olivia, 26, said “I’m happy to have won the gold medal.”

As for shot putt throw gold medallist Diana Valentin, 18, she thanked everyone involved in the team’s preparation and made a special call for fellow disabled athletes to come forward.

“It wasn’t easy, but I gave my very best to win the gold, medal. I would like to call on other disabled athletes not to shy away from competitions. Make the most of the opportunities you have now to show everyone that we (disabled athletes) too can make our country proud,” she said.

While in the VIP lounge, the athletes, SOS chairperson Annette Domingue who headed the delegation in Shanghai, head coach Vincent Cedras and assistant coach Sultanne Cadeau were presented with sports bags containing a cap, a T-Shirt and pens.

Natacha Payet made the presentation in the presence of Qatar Airways Area Manager Rose-Marie Hoareau who noted that the “athletes deserve a little present for their hard work”.

SOS chairperson Annette Domingue thanked Qatar Airways, saying that “it’s good to know that people appreciate it when Seychellois disabled athletes perform well.”

As she thanked the coaches for their hard work, Ms Domingue noted that it is time for SOS to go out and see why many disabled athletes aren’t taking part in the competitions being organised locally.

She also said that the preparation for the 13th edition of the Special Olympics World Summer Games, scheduled for Athens, Greece in 2011, will start later this year.

The 10-day 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games ran from October 2 to 11 in Shanghai, China. The first to be held in Asia, the Games, which featured 21 medal sports and four demonstrating events, attracted 7,450 athletes from 164 countries and regions, a record in the 39-year history of the games.

The Games in Shanghai left behind a string of superlatives like grandest opening, most delegations, widest media coverage and greatest impact.

It is to note that the Special Olympics is for the intellectually challenged persons and it has as its motto: ‘let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempts’.

G. G.