The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Bhutan won gold and silver medals at the Special Olympics World Games held in Berlin, Germany.
Nima Yoezer won two gold medals. He first competed against Spain and Uzbekistan in the shot put category to win gold and he got his second gold in the 100 meters race (B level) where he ran at 14 seconds.
Dechen Peldon who got silver competed against 5 other countries in theshot put category.
She narrowly missed a gold medal in 100 meters race where she was leading but fell at the last 25 meters.
Nima is 17 years old, learning art and painting at Draktsho and he is an athlete of Special Olympics Bhutan (SOB). Dechen is 19 years old, learning weaving at Draktsho and also an athlete of SOB.
The Executive Director of Draktsho, expressed her delight saying, “If given an opportunity a person with disabilities can also excel. For tomorrow’s event, it is going to be a very tough competition as all of the participants will be competing against 7 countries within their category”.
Further she added, sports is another important medium where persons with disabilities can showcase their abilities and at times even perform better.
“We must give them opportunity in all avenues. Who knows we could have more champions from other areas,” she said.
A delegation of 7 members participated at the special Olympics world Summer Games from 12-26 June, 2023. 4 athletes from Draktsho, Pelden, Phub Zangmo, Dechen Peldon and Nima Yoezer participated in track and field events such as 100mts race, 50mts race, shot put and the mixed relay race.
It was sponsored by Bhutan Olympic Committee, Bhutan Football Federation and other individual donors.
“We are so proud and happy to be coming home victorious with 2 golds from Nima and 1 silver from Dechen. It’s such a joyous moment for 4 athletes with intellectual disabilities to bring home 3 medals at the Olympic level and the Special Olympics is the biggest platform for these athletes to showcase their extraordinary talents achieving what they have all wished for,” added the ED.
Special Olympics is the worlds largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities that provides year-round training and activities for more than 5 million athletes covering 172 countries worldwide.
