T&T’s 64-member delegation finished with a total of 48 medals (15 gold, nine silver and 24 bronze) as the Special Olympics World Summer Games came to a close in Los Angeles, California , USA on Sunday.
Additionally, the team returned home with 18 fourth place, three fifth place, seven sixth place, two seventh place and one eighth place ribbons in Aquatics, Athletics, Basketball, Bocce, Equestrian, Football, Powerlifting and Volleyball. At the 2011 Games, they captured 15 gold, 15 silver and eight bronze medals.
On T&T’s final day of competition on Saturday, its athletes added a total of 10 medals, including one gold, two silver and seven bronze, along with four fourth place and two sixth place ribbons.
Aquatics 4x25m Freestyle Relay Team “A”, consisting of Nikolai Lalla, Chavez Lamy, Jaleel Pierre and Shania Surujbally, gave high expectations when they clocked 1:02.44 seconds, the fastest overall time in the preliminaries. However, they were disqualified when one of the swimmers was judged to have entered the pool before time.
The 4x25m Relay Team “B” with Melissa Nanan, Theresa Duncan, Jariah Walker and Vanessa Maharaj was sixth in its division. The aquatics team finished with three gold, one silver, three bronze, four fourth place, one fifth place, one sixth place and one disqualification.
SOT&T Athletics 4x100m relay team of Donald Doyle, Latoya Charles, Devon Wilson and Rickie Quow finished in sixth place in a time of 54.37. Ishmael Perpignac was unable to finish his 800m race due to an injury. Athletics brought home four gold, one silver, four bronze, four fourth place, one fifth place, two sixth place, two seventh place, one eighth place and three disqualifications.
SOT&T Bocce’s Alicia Khan completed the triple when she teamed with Renee Massiah to capture her third Gold Medal in the Doubles Competition. Kerry James and Ronan Dominique also won a bronze medal, while the pair of Colin Duncan and Beverly Adams won a fourth place ribbon. Bocce finished with three gold, two silver, two bronze, two fourth place and one sixth place ribbon.
Basketball captured the bronze medal when they defeated Japan. In the Equestrian Team Relay Competition, Jomal Forde partnered Keonne Jones to earn a bronze medal. The team finished with four gold, one silver, four bronze, two fourth place, one fifth place and one sixth place. Joanne Piango finished with triple gold.
SOT&T Football captured the gold medal in its division. The team played undefeated in all competition with earlier results of 2-2 against Faro Islands on Saturday, 4-0 over Costa Rica and 1-1 against Switzerland on Sunday, 4-1 over St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 2-1 over Barbados and 4-2 against Hong Kong. Brandon George was the leading scorer for SOT&T with five goals but was supported by captain Devan Mahadeo and Gari Ryan with four goals each, Clint Samuel with three, Sean Gibson with two and Nathan Mc Lean and Aleem Hassan with one goal each.
In Powerlifting, Damian Marquis captured a silver medal in the Bench Press with 92.5 kg, a bronze with 125kg in the Squat, and fourth place in the Dead Lift with 157.5 kg. That was good enough to win a silver medal in the Combination Lifts. Malachi Sylvester won four bronze medals, lifting 72.5kg in Bench Press, 110 kg in the Squat, 145kg in the deadlift for a total of 327.5kg in the Combination Lifts.
SOTT Volleyball defeated Jamaica but lost to India in a grueling three-setter later in the day to capture a fourth place ribbon. The Games came to an end on Sunday with a closing ceremony at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The SOTT Delegation returned in two groups yesterday. The first group, with Aquatics, Athletics, Basketball and Powerlifting athletes, is expected to arrive in Piarco at 1.45 pm while the second group, with Bocce, Equestrian, Football and Volleyball athletes, will arrive at 9 pm later that day.