Charlotte Cox

On the evening of Saturday 25th June all of the teams gathered outside the Panathenaic Stadium in central Atens for the opening Ceremony of the 2011 Special Olympic World Summer Games. The ceremony started at 8pm with some music then the Presidential Guards paraded into the areana for the arrival of the Karolos Papoulias the President of the Hellenic Republic of Greece.

It was then the turn of all the athletes to parade proudly into the arena.

When we had all entered the arena we enjoyed some wonderful music by the legendary Stevie Wonder, our Coach Tony really enjoyed this and was dancing away to the music.

There was some wonderful dancing telling a Greek “odyssey”. This was followed by the raising of the Special Olympic Flag, the saying of the oath…………

Let me win! But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt!

The final part of the opening ceremony was the arrival of the flame, which was delivered into the arena on a winged chariot, and the lighting of the Special Olympic torch. The final part of the evening was a spectacular firework display.

Unfortunately a number of the countries, including Great Britain have been struck down with a tummy bug. So far I’m okay but not sure what affect it will have on the games. I start my competition on Tuesday with the long jump.

We had an early start today.   I did my longjump first, only managed 2.45 which against my pb of 2.90 was not as good as I wanted, but it was enough to secure 1st position and I got my third gold medal

My last event was the 400m, not one of my favourites and it was very hot, I really surprised myself with my time of 1.23 my previous pb was 1.39 so winning my fourth gold medal with a pb and a new world record was a very good high to end the games on.

Sardinia has been great, overall the GB team came 3rd so we got to bring home a really lovely trophy.   The Italians were great hosts, gave us a brilliant competition and treated us very very well.

Had to leave before the closing ceremony to catch a flight home as I have a important appointment tomorrow but more of that later.

Today I competed in the 100m and 200m sprints.  The competitions were a little unusual as we were not permitted to do down starts.  This caused a lot of upset for many of the competitors who had been training and practicing this for so long.  To add to the confusion all the starts were in Italian rather than the official language of the IAADS, English.

In my first event the 100m I was not used to the starts and gave the rest of the competitors a head start but managed to win in a rather slow time for me of 16.4sec.  So the first national anthem played at the games was the British national anthem.

In my second event Mum stood by the start and gave me the commands in English which helped tremendously and I raced home in first place in a time of 34.8sec.

Click this link to view a video of me in the 200m race

 

Two races and two Gold medals – very pleased and very proud.

Thursday 2nd June 2011 Mum and I set of early for our flight to Cagliari in Sardinia for the first International Athletic Association for persons with Down Syndrome (IAADS) European Athletics Championships.

The games form part of a festival of athletics with paralymic competitions starting tomorrow (preparations for the Global Games)  and the IAADS games beginning on Saturday.  I am competing in the 100m, 200m, 400m and the long jump.

We were greeted at Cagliari airport by a welcoming committee of games officials and whisked through all the arrival formalities and taken to our hotel.  Our hotel is very close to the athletics track and we will be able to walk to the events which will be nice.

Our friend Patricia from the British Embassy in Mexico has posted a news article on the embassy web site about the competition.

If you would like to view it here is the link to the web site:

http://ukinmexico.fco.gov.uk/es/news/?view=PressR&id=22882760

Had a restful day after the hard work of the last week.  Mum and I did some shopping today to pick up some gifts for the family.

We’re both looking forward to going home now – it’s been a wonderful experience but we miss everybody.

We start our journey home tomorrow lunchtime (6.00pm UK time).  We first fly to Phoenix then a quick change and onto Los Angeles where we have another quick change onto our Virgin flight to Heathrow.  We arrive back in the UK at 3.50pm on Wednesday.

Can’t wait to get home and sleep in my own bed and have a nice cup of tea.

This is me with all four of my gold medals,  I’m so pleased.

We had a wonderful celebration dinner to close the event.  Mum and some of the other families had a little too much to drink.  We enjoyed Mexican dancing in the evening then we all danced until late into the night.

Today I did the 200m and the long jump.  The 200m is my favourite event and in blistering temperatures I suceeding in winning my third gold medal – in my fastest time of the season.  I was pleased with that.

In the long jump, not my best event, I jumped 2.84m which is close to my personal best.  The nearest girl jumped 2. 76m – so I won my fourth gold medal.

Tonight we have a celebration dinner when we will learn how the team did and the closing ceremony.  It’s been a wonderful games and I’ve met so many wonderful people.

Mexico has been a wonderful country and it’s been a fantastic games.

I’m looking forward to the next one.

I’m so proud to have represented my country and I’m pleased that I have been able to do so well for the family and friends that have made it possible for me to get here.

My second event, the 400m – and my second Gold.  This is not one of my usual events but Mum had entered me; she thought if we’d gone all the way to Mexico then I ought to compete in as many events as I can.

I have the 200m heats and finals and the long jump tomorrow – the long jump is not my best event so we’ll have to see how it goes.

I’ve been invited to competitions in Columbia and South Africa – not sure whether Mum will let me go.

It was the most nervous I’ve been before a race.  The starter warned all the girls that if anyone had a false start they would be disqualified.  It was a tough race in very hot conditions.

Mum said it would be a Trivial Pursuits question in the future:

Q. What was the first national anthem played at the first World Games for Athletes with Down Syndrome.

A. God Save The Queen

I won Gold – it was fantastic.  When I stood on the podium and they played the National Anthem I felt so proud, everybody cheered and Mum cried.

Tomorrow it’s the long jump and possibly the 400m.