Local 16-year-old figure skater Breanna Williams can now add Special Olympics World Champion to her already impressive resume of skating skills and competition success.
She earned the gold medal for Team Canada and Team Ontario in a mixed division of both men and women for her Singles Program in Figure Skating Level 5 at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin, Italy, last week.
The teenager, who has been skating since she was four-and-a-half years old, is the only Special Olympics athlete from Windsor-Essex County to earn a spot at the World Special Olympics, held March 8-15. The Special Olympics are different from the Paralympics with its mandate being for athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Canada sent 90 athletes who participated in five winter sports and brought home some impressive hardware.
According to the Special Olympics Canada website, the team chant goes like this: “Canada, Canada, Eh, Eh, Eh! We are Canadian, we are the North; We love the frost and the winter sports; We don our toques and train in the cold; We might be nice, but we come for the gold! Canada, Canada. Eh, Eh, Eh!”
And that they certainly did, with a medal count of 39 gold, 35 silver and 42 bronze medals.
Williams, who is supported by the John McGivney Children’s Centre and trains in Leamington with coach Laurie Horne-Klassen, was recently quoted as saying she has always had a mindset to “dream big, as anything is possible,” and her big dream has now come true with her own Olympic gold medal.
Breanna Williams with her gold medal.
Photo submitted
