Irish skiers confident of Special Olympics success

EIGHT athletes jet off from Ireland to Japan today with high hopes of success at the Special Olympics World Winter Games.

The athletes will participate in three Alpine skiing events: the slalom, downhill slalom and giant slalom.

Frances Kavanagh, director of sport at Special Olympics Ireland, said the team was very confident.

“They are the best-prepared team we’ve ever sent to the winter games. They are really, really excited to be going and so focused it’s incredible.”

Four of the competitors - Lorraine Whelan, from Wicklow, Ryan Hill, from Co Armagh, Warren Tate, from Co Dublin, and Cormac Maguire, from Dublin - are at intermediate level. The others - Fiona Bryson, from Co Dublin, Cyril Walker from Co Armagh and Finbar Hughes and Liam Weir, both from Co Tyrone - are novices.

The eight athletes will be joined by 11 family members.

TEAM 2005, 26 fully trained Special Olympics Ireland volunteers who have collectively raised €200,000 euro for Special Olympics Ireland, will also travel.

Since their selection early last year, the team have trained hard at their clubs and attended weekend training sessions. For the first time, Team Ireland prepared for a Winter Games on snow at a training camp in Murau in Austria.

Around 2,500 athletes and 650 coaches are taking part in the Special Olympics at Nagano, Japan, home of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games and Paralympics.