Tallaght Tornados Jamie, Adam and James
Special Olympics Ireland Summer Games officially launched
THE Special Olympics Ireland Summer Games were officially launched in Tallaght Stadium on Thursday evening.
The competition sees over 1,200 athletes compete representing five different regions, Ulster, Connacht, Munster, Leinster and Eastern.
The Eastern team is primarily made up of Athletes within the Dublin area and features plenty of local talent throughout.
One of the local teams present was the United Warriors Special Olympics Club, based in Rathcoole the club have a longstanding history of participating in Football at the Special Olympics and have multiple medal winners within the club.
United Warriors Rathcoole
Longtime member Mary Keogh Fagan spoke on the spectacle of the opening ceremony.
“The set up is brilliant, when you see them altogether in their colours it’s a brilliant spectacle. They did the flyover and lit the flame so it’s really exciting. They are all in the student accommodation and they have a great time.”
Athletes will stay in various student accommodations throughout the games and were given a Garda Escort on their way to the stadium.
Roughly 2,000 people were present in Tallaght Stadium yesterday, among the attendees was President Catherine Connolly who addressed all of the athletes with a speech and praised the games as a whole.
The Air Corp performed a fly over once the torch was lit at the final part of the ceremony.
Another local team at the event was the Tallaght Tornados with Jamie, Adam and James competing in bowling. Coach Stephen O’Hara spoke following the conclusion of the launch.
“It’s just overwhelming. The guys are looking forward to it, they’ve been training for the last couple of months and overall for years.
‘This is the culmination of all that training.
‘The guys have put in the work and now they’re here at the Ireland games to showcase their talent.
‘They are going to do that over the next three days at Coolock. Saturday they have singles and Sunday they have doubles, we’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great experience.”
