Day 4 | Medal Mania!

Team Australia are competing in nine sports and there was action in most of them today. Here's an update across our nine sports teams.

 

Athletics

Yesterday, Bruce Gossner (QLD) won the first medal on the track when he took out silver. Jack Craig-Daly (QLD) also won a silver medal.

Today, Harry Mezmer took out bronze in a captivating 10,000m event.

There’ll will be plenty more opportunities for Australia to medal in athletics on Thursday and Friday as finals ramp up and relays get underway.

Basketball

It’s the pointy end of the week for our men and women’s basketball teams who are on form and heading into the finals series over the next few days. Watch this space for news from the court!

Bocce

Our Australian bocce team are on fire at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin with all four players in possession of at least one medal.

On Monday, Team Captain Stuart Gorton (QLD), Georgiana Mouratidis (VIC), Andrew Robbins (VIC) and Vicki Robbins (VIC) secured the first medal of the Games when they won a bronze medal in the Team’s event.

Yesterday, Stuart raised the stakes when he won Australia’s first silver medal at the World Games in Berlin in the Men’s Singles event. He missed out on the gold medal by a mere one point!

On being awarded the silver medal Stuart said, “I am very proud to have won a silver medal and I did it in front of my team and my dad. It’s so exciting to be able to represent Australia against the rest of the world. This is my second World Games. When I last competed in LA in 2015 I won three medals. I just can’t remember what colour they were!”

It was a newsworthy achievement for our Aussie team and Wednesday morning they did a live cross from Berlin to ABC News Australia to share their success.

Bowling

On Tuesday, our bowlers were the first Aussie team to receive a medal at the Special Olympics World Summer Games when our team of four were awarded a bronze medal in the Teams event.

Today, our bowlers won Australia’s first gold medal at the World Games when they snatched a win in the Men’s Double’s event. Our gold medallists are Michael Wheatley (NSW) and Robert Goodrem (VIC).

Following Michael and Robert’s gold, Angela Fowler (NSW) and Brooke “Chookie” Greenhalgh (VIC) won bronze in the Women’s Double’s event.

Justin Lopes who is Team Australia’s Head Coach for Bowling said, “The gold medal in Men’s Doubles resulted from a very tight competition. Michael and Robert did extremely well. Both bowled above their average, so it was a well-deserved victory. In the Women’s Doubles, Angela and Brooke faced some extremely tough competition. They also performed really well and above average to win the bronze medal.”

In an emotional addition Justin said, “I am so pleased for the athletes. They have excelled on the lanes, but even more than that their attitude has been 120% brilliant all the time and I am very proud of them.”

Equestrian

The Australian equestrian team face a few challenges. The four riders are some of the youngest on Team Australia and none of them have been to a World Games before. In fact, Oliver King (QLD) is the youngest Australian competitor at the World Games at just 15-years-old…and this is the first time he has ever travelled overseas.

Even more challenging is that our competitors have to ride a local horse who they have never met before!

But this young Aussie team, and their borrowed horses, have said ‘neigh’ to defeat.

On day 4 of competition, each member of the equestrian team has secured a medal – and they’ve got the trio of colours! Isabella (QLD) has gold, Karen (QLD) has silver, and Jaye (WA) and Oliver (QLD) both have bronze.

Go Team Australia equestrian!

Golf

Our Aussie golfers came out fast and then hit some rough conditions before holding their own. All six are now in medal contention. Watch this space for news from the course!

Gymnastics

The Australian gymnastics team are keen to share their talent at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin when their competition starts tomorrow.

Coming into competition towards the end of schedule, our gymnasts have spent most of the week training, seeing the sights and getting out to venues to cheer on Aussies competing in other sports.   

Watch this space for all the Aussie gymnastics news. This flexible bunch will catch up quick and – no doubt – bring in some medals!

Swimming

It’s also the pointy end of the week for our swimmers who are on form and heading into finals and relays over the next few days. Watch this space for news from the pool!

Tennis

Like the Aussie basketballers, it’s the pointy end of the week for our two tennis players, Alex Baker (QLD) and Rebecca Allison (QLD) who are on form and heading into the finals in both singles and doubles. Watch this space for news from the court!