BERLIN, Germany — Special Olympics Jamaica’s track and field coaches were purring with pride after their athletes won three more medals on Sunday’s final day of the World Summer Games.

The 18-year-old Sheneel Williams, a member of the triumphant women’s 4x100m quartet from days ago, added individual gold to her collection when she won the 400m Level A race at the Olympiapark track in Berlin.

Her compatriot Allanika Gordon, 25, who had won the women’s 800m race last week — Jamaica’s first gold medal at the Berlin Games — took silver in the women’s 400m Level B final.

Jamaica’s third medal on Sunday came from O’Brian McFarlane, who claimed silver in the men’s 400m Level A race after finishing behind Thepthat Nunseng of Thailand. McFarlane, 29, had won gold in the 800m last week.

SOJ ended the 2023 Special Olympics Games with 18 medals, 12 of which came from track and field. Of those 12 medals in track and field, seven were gold, four silver, and one bronze.

Track and field Head Coach Akeem Clarke told the Jamaica Observer he was especially impressed because of the growth he has seen over recent months.

“I am pleased with the team’s performance at the games, knowing where the athletes started out and to see the level of improvements now. I am happy that nine out of the 10 athletes are going back home with at least one gold medal,” he said.

“We went into the final day of competition in high spirits, even though our male captain [McFarlane] was experiencing headache. However, he was determined to compete, and he managed to add a silver to our medal count,” he added, noting that Williams and women’s captain Gordon were also outstanding.

Lori Scott-Moore, the track and field assistant coach, boasted that the athletes battled the odds and shone brightly for their country.

“I am proud of the team’s overall performance at the World Games, in spite of all the challenges leading up to the Games and during the Games. We stayed focused and dedicated to our objectives and, at the end, we represented well and did Jamaica proud,” she said.

Though the 18 medals are way off the record 33 won at the World Games in the United Arab Emirates in 2019, and the 29 captured at the 2015 summer showpiece in the United States, it is a noteworthy haul. For both those previous Games, SO Jamaica had significantly larger athlete contingents and competed in a greater number of sporting disciplines.

Through sport activities and competition Special Olympics aims to break down barriers that exclude people with intellectual disabilities, such as autism and Down’s 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.