Barbados athletes win special olympics world games gold

Barbados picked up two gold medals on Saturday afternoon, on the first day of the athletics competition in the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Abbygaile Mayers claimed the first medal for her country when she ran the 200m in a time of 26.25 seconds at the Dubai Police Sports Club Stadium, way ahead of the other competitors in her division.  Tiffany Branch soon followed Abbygaile’s example, winning the top prize in her division in a time of 34.15 seconds

Both Abbygaile and Tiffany were medalists at the 2015 World Games in Los Angeles, California. They will compete in the women’s 100m event at the same venue on Monday, March 18, and hope to acquire more hardware to move Barbados up on the medals table.

Head Coach, Roger Dyall, says, “We were a bit disappointed when we realized that we were not going to run the relay. However, we have refocused our attention to performing well in the events. We have a common purpose of representing Barbados to the best of our ability, and that’s what we aim to do. The athletes want to do Barbados proud.”

All of the athletes were cheered on from the stands by World Games volunteers, Special Olympics officials, media, family members and fans. The Special Olympics athletes’ oath is, “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” This oath was recited by an athlete from the UAE at the start of the competition. There was lots of evidence of that spirit on display on the track. (PR)