The World Games ended last Thursday night. Earlier that day, bocce medalists Kerry (one silver, one bronze) and Neil (two silver) visited the elementary students at the Canadian International School in Abu Dhabi to talk about their experience and show them their medals! Everyone wanted to try them on and all were in awe of these champions.

Later on that day, the athletes participated to the Closing Ceremony and everyone was on the dance floor! SO Team Canada left the UAE on Saturday morning and the athletes are currently arriving back to their hometown.

To call the Games a success for SO Team Canada would be an understatement. Our athletes won a total of 90 gold, 37 silver and 28 bronze medals, which is the highest number of gold medals of any of the nations participating in the Games! This shows that we had a well-rounded team of motivated athletes. The medal tally doesn’t take into account all of the personal bests beaten, the friendships made and the once-in-lifetime experience of being an Olympian.

I would like to take this time to thank you all for your support for our athletes and for this initiative. You truly are all #unifiedchampions!

Best regards,

Anne-Marie Genin-Charette
Special Olympics Coordination Officer – Coordonatrice pour les Olympiques spéciaux