BERLIN, Germany — The Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) men’s unified footballers lived up to their pre-tournament hype when they shook off chilly and rainy weather to defeat Hellas (Greece) 3-1 in the gold medal match at the World Games.

Tavarie Spencer, Tajay Able and Damion Gordon got the goals for the Jamaicans in the seven-a-side Division 1 final at Olympiapark as temperatures averaged a relatively low 17 degrees Celsius on Friday. Ilias Zervas scored the Greek team’s lone goal.

The gold took Jamaica’s medal tally to 11 at the Berlin 2023 Games with a number of finals to be contested in track and field, badminton and volleyball.

While the Greek side captured silver, Germany ‘2’ beat Ghana 4-1 in the bronze-medal clash, and South Korea finished fifth, and Monaco sixth.

The Jamaicans were impressive throughout the unified football tournament, racking up victories against Germany ‘2’ (3-1), Singapore (3-0), Palestine (13-0), Ghana (2-0), and Monaco (2-0). Their only blemish came in a surprising 0-3 loss to South Korea in their third outing.

“It was a well-planned and executed game. We were in a good mode from the game against Monaco and we took it from there with that chemistry,” SOJ football Head Coach Shane Richards told the Jamaica Observer.

“Greece tried to stay behind the ball and to use their height against us, but we used our speed and strength to our advantage.

“Our players really played their hearts out. We lost our way against Korea, and that was a wake-up call. The team did as was expected for Jamaican teams as we are now a force to be reckoned with,” said Richards, who guided an 11-a-side Jamaica men’s team to the Unified Football Cup gold medal last year.

The Jamaica women’s football team missed out on a medal after falling 1-4 to Germany in their bronze-medal match in Division 1. Aaliyah Treleven got Jamaica’s goal.

Karen Darby, the SOJ women’s assistant coach, said it was an uphill struggle for the injury-hit squad.

“The team showed up and fought hard especially in this weather; however, they were unable to hold off the Germans in the third-place match. They showed heart, never gave up even when their bodies were telling them otherwise, and they kept a positive attitude throughout the tournament,” she said.

Through sport activities and competition, the Special Olympics movement aims to break down barriers that exclude people with intellectual disabilities, such as autism and Down syndrome, from mainstream society.

The disabilities can either be acquired or genetic and can also include cases of cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, and some cases of developmental delay.

The unified sports programme, a focus of the Special Olympics movement, combines people with intellectual disabilities and those without disabilities in training and competition.