Day of spills and thrills at World Games
BERLIN, Germany — It was a day of spills, thrills, and unfortunate splashes on Thursday, but Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) ended the day with two more medals to push the country’s count to 10 at the 2023 World Games.
Kirk Wint, who competes by running on all fours due to disability in his lower limbs, won gold in the men’s 50m at Olympiapark on Thursday.
He registered 15.51 seconds, finishing behind John Capelle (14.33) of SO Marshall Islands and Omer Al Jumaili (14.42) of SO Iraq in the 50m (Level C, Division R2) race.
But the top two were disqualified for clocking times outside of the range allowed for that category. Wint’s third place was upgraded to first, giving the 21-year-old his first gold over 50 metres at the World Games after previous courageous attempts in 2015 and 2019.
Jamaica won silver in badminton unified men’s doubles at Messe Berlin after Kile Ford and Travis Ebanks lost 18-21, 21-18, 15-21 to Obay Zatari and Nizar Jaradat of SO Palestine in Division 2.
Earlier in the day, the 20-year-old Ford and Ebanks, 28, came from behind to defeat Guatemala 19-21, 21-14, 22-20.
Badminton Coach Joseph Clarke praised the team and noted the determination of unified partner Ebanks, who played through pain after twisting his left ankle halfway through the match against Gautemala.
“The team performed well despite the injury to Ebanks,” he said.
“During the break between the matches we tried to give further assistance and medical treatment, however, we were a bit limited in what we were able to do for him before the final match against Palestine started. It was very difficult to move and cover a court, badminton being the fastest of the racquet sports.
“Kyle is young, a little bit less experienced, but he is a great kid… and has been working so hard to prepare. I really want to congratulate both players, they secured a silver medal for us in the unified men’s doubles badminton and it is something that they can be very proud of,” Clarke told the Jamaica Observer.
There was heartache for Jamaica in the pool when Kadian Ingleton, who tapped the wall first, was disqualified in the women’s 800m freestyle (Level 2, Division 1) race because her final time (16:57.36 minutes) was beyond the allowable range for that category.
The SO Germany pair of Elke Jaeger (17:07.29) and Patrizia Spaulding (17:13.69) were disqualified for similar reason, leaving the door open for SO Italy’s Anita Greco (19:09.24) to win gold.
“Although the outcome was not what we anticipated, we are more than proud of Kadian Ingleton for her superb performance in the 800m freestyle,” said aquatics Coach Brittany Williams.
“She was able to hold the lead from start to finish in the 800m freestyle, resulting in her achieving a personal best time. Kadian’s performance showed that she wanted to set the pace of the race by starting strong and ending strong.”
The coach backed the 33-year-old Ingleton to rebound from the disappointment.
“She is disheartened and heartbroken. But anyone who knows Kadian knows she is a bundle of joy, always laughing and smiling wherever she goes. She is a fighter and will come out on top of this,” Williams insisted.
In football action at Olympiapark, the SOJ men’s unified seven-a-side team garnered a hard-fought 2-0 win over SO Monaco. The goals were scored by Damion Gordon and Ricardo Saunders.
On the volleyball court at Messe Berlin, SO Jamaica lost 12-25, 21-25 to SO Saudi Arabia but remain in contention to win a medal.
Jamaica’s 10 medals at the Berlin 2023 Games so far have comprised three gold, four silver, and three bronze.
SOJ won a record 33 medals at the 2019 Summer Games to better the country’s previous best of 29 at the 2015 showpiece in the United States. On both those occasions the contingent of athletes was much larger than the 47 currently in Berlin.
Special Olympics provides year-round training and athletic competition in a variety of sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
The intellectual disabilities can either be acquired or genetic and can include cases of cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism, and traumatic brain injury.
The unified sports programme brings people with and without intellectual disabilities together on the same team during competition.