Special Olympics GB’s golden start to the European Games in Belgium continued into Tuesday with a plethora of medals and personal best stories. As of early evening on Tuesday, GB had won ten medals – four Gold, three Silver and three Bronze.
The medal tally increased for GB on Tuesday thanks to a double gold success for our table tennis partnerships. The team of Emma Hunt (Wolverhampton) & Jeffrey Jarvis (Melton Mowbray) together with the pairing of George Gibson (Montrose) & Jennifer Turner (Shropshire) were stood at the top of the podium with Gold Medals hanging around their necks. Terrific table tennis twins – Alistair Feltham & Duncan Feltham from Bournemouth – completed a perfect day for the team by securing a bronze in the men’s doubles!
TABLE TENNIS TRIUMPH
Tuesday morning, Rosemary Hollingsworth from Bedfordshire and the Eastern region, secured a brilliant and brave Bronze Medal in her 1km TT race in 2 mins 41 seconds, two seconds ahead of fourth place in a close run event. David Jackson from Glasgow completed a fabulous two days for GB’s cycling team when he took third place in his 5km road race and therefore a brilliant bronze.
Up to Date Awards/Medal Tally
4 x Gold
3 x Silver
2 x Bronze
2 x 4th
1 x 5th
1 x 7th
1 x 8th
On Monday, the incredible Ruairidh Brown of East Kilbride in Scotland won the men’s 15km cycling road race with a time of 24 mins and 15 seconds – this was the first ever gold medal to be awarded at the 2014 European Games. Ruairidh, congratulations, you have just made history!
This achievement was quickly followed by a second gold by an exceptional cycling performance in the 5km women’s race by the brilliant Leanne Peters of Blanefield in Scotland!
There are also three sensational silver medals to talk about in the European Games pool for GB. Swimmer Natalie Moon in the 400m Freestyle recorded a time of 5:37.43 for SILVER. Meanwhile, Scott Cleaver (400m Freestyle and a time of 5:31.30) and Maria Orsi (50m Freestyle at 48.03) both attained Personal Best times to secure their Silver Medals.
Swimming Finals – Results
Natalie Moon 400m Freestyle 5:37.43 SILVER
Scott Cleaver 400m Freestyle 5:31.30 PB!!! SILVER
Maria Orsi 50m Freestyle 48.03 PB!!! SILVER
Emma Birley 50m Freestyle 52.62 PB!!!! 4th
Dylan Thorburn 50m Freestyle 36.60 5th
Jacqueline Minchin 50m Freestyle 58.05 7th
Sam Pattinson 50m Freestyle 36.28 8th
Collecting two Silver Medals today in the first two races of the Finals Session was brilliant. Then Maria Orsi swam a personal best time in the 50m freestyle to collect the third!
Scott’s 400m race was a gutsy swim and very exciting to watch, leading from the start he made the other swimmers really work hard, improving his personal best time by 5 seconds in the process. Emma Birley also knocked 5 seconds off her 50m Freestyle and finished in 4th place just missing out on the bronze medal by 0.30.
Sam and Jacqueline’s finals were tough, up against some excellent competition, they showed great racing skills and match their divisioning times.
Other PB’s were achieved by Maria Orsi, Ann-Marie, and Dylan who amazingly improved his PB even further from yesterday.
