A big congratulations to everybody who competed…

This year the Special Olympics was hosted in Berlin, Germany and the UAE brought home a total of 73 medals. The Special Olympics was last hosted in 2019 and was held right here in Abu Dhabi.

Before announcing the achievements, a massive congratulations goes out to the UAE team for representing the country in the Special Olympics 2023 and securing a record number of medals.

A special achievement

The event was held from June 17 to June 25 and hosted countries from all over the world. The UAE had the biggest delegation from the Middle East and North Africa with over 160 people. The group included 72 athletes of determination with intellectual and developmental disabilities and 31 unified partners (those in group sports).

Competing in 20 different sporting events, we brought home a total of 18 gold medals, 22 silver and 33 bronze.

Spectacular individuals

This year we saw veteran swimmer, Omar Al Shami secure a gold medal in the 200-metre freestyle, and Alia Al Muhairi also won gold in the 25-metre freestyle.

We also secured gold medals in gymnastics and two gold medals in roller skating. Judo player Roudha Al Ahbabi secured her very first medal, a bronze in the 100-kilogram category. Asma Ali and Hareb Anbar won gold and bronze medals respectively in athletics.

As far as cycling is considered the UAE team won two gold and two bronze medals, while in equestrian – Mahra Al Kaabi came second and Mahmoud Jaroor, won a silver medal in bocce.

Team players

The unified players also brought home some wonderful achievements. In bowling, we won two silver medals and one bronze. The badminton and tennis teams brought us silver and gold medals, as well as volleyball. The men’s basketball team won Gold in the final against China.

For a full breakdown of the results of the Berlin 2023 Special Olympics, click here.

Images: Emirates News Agency