‘The emotion of winning a medal is indescribable’: Team Ireland at Special Olympics

“It’s a dream come true,” said Maureen Larkin, who travelled all the way from Connemara, Co Galway to Berlin to watch her daughter Patricia compete in the Special Olympics World Games for the first time.

Standing outside the SSE pool on Wednesday afternoon, having just cheered Patricia (26) on as she took part in the 200 metres mixed freestyle relay, Maureen said she and her husband Kevin were “buzzing” with Team Ireland’s performance, despite missing out on a medal.

And how does the German capital compare to the picturesque west of Ireland? Kevin grinned and said he preferred Connemara and in particular its “open spaces”.

Moments earlier the couple were among the large and loud contingent of Irish supporters waving Tricolours shouting for Patricia and her team-mates Eoin O’Connell (23) from Dundrum, Dublin; Ellie Armstrong (16) from Omagh, Co Tyrone; and Jack Egan (22) from Navan, Co Meath.

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“It has been breathtaking to be able to watch her take part,” said Maureen, who explained Patricia took up swimming with Special Olympics Ireland 15 years ago. “Her confidence has grown, she’s more happy now.”

Joining the Larkins were Patricia’s son Patrick (2) and her partner Oliver.

“He [Patrick] recognised her… she would wave over and we would say there’s Mammy over there,” Maureen added.

Speaking after her race, Patricia said she was proud that her son, who has himself just started swimming lessons, was “actually in Berlin to support me”.

“It has been amazing, the whole experience,” she said.

“I was at work when I found out I was going to the Games. Mum came in to tell me but I thought something was up with my grandad because he was unwell. She told me I had gotten through to the World Games but I didn’t believe her. I went training that night and they all told me, and I burst into tears.”

Also among the Irish delegation of supporters were Eoin’s O’Connell’s parents, Marie Kelly and George O’Connell, who have made the trip over to the Games with 11 other family members and friends. Eoin secured a bronze medal in the open water swimming category on Monday.

“The emotion of him winning the medal is just indescribable,” said Eoin’s father. “It’s determination over adversity. He just knows that’s what he wants to do and he’s a self starter. He would get up early in the morning and he would go swimming by himself. All during the winter he swam.

“He understands fully what this is and he knows what it means. He knows he’s swimming for Ireland.”

Throwing his arms around the swimmers and patting them on the back was head coach, Terry Higgins, who said the mixed relay team had only been together for six months but had made “fantastic progress”.

“The improvements have been incredible,” he said. “We improved by nearly 40 per cent over six months which just doesn’t happen.

“We moved in accidentally into the top standard [division] against the best teams in the world so we’re just thrilled. It’s like winning the gold medal for us . . . It’s all their first World Games and they’re a young team.”

He added that the Special Olympics had given them “the opportunity to achieve things they mightn’t otherwise achieve”.

“It says there’s no limits. They can do anything they want, they’ve seen it . . . there is no ceiling for them,” he said.

Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics and nephew of former US president John F Kennedy, was also at the venue, stopping for pictures with athletes and their families.

“It’s 20 years now since we’ve had the World Games in Ireland,” Mr Shriver noted. “They [the 2003 Games] remain a landmark of our movement, the point of which our movement grew to become a full force in the global sports world and a full force for global messaging around inclusion and we want to come back to Ireland.”