Plymouth athletes to represent Team GB at LA Special Olympics
| Posted: May 01, 2014
By PATRICK DALY Herald Reporter @thepatrickdaly
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TWO athletes from Plymouth will be heading to Los Angeles to represent Great Britain at the world Special Olympics.
Both Elizabeth Haywood and Steven Dodd made the grade and will now travel to America in July next year along with 7,000 other athletes from 177 countries.
Steven will race for gold in kayaking while Elizabeth will represent Team GB in badminton.
The athletes both train with Special Olympics Plymouth and District (SOPD) and won medals at the national Olympics held in Bath last August.
Elizabeth won gold and Steven took home bronze in the freestyle swimming. There was no kayaking provision at the national tournament so the 39-year-old spent time mastering swimming to ensure he could compete in the summer bout.
They will join the 160-strong Great Britain team in the USA for the week-long competition after impressing in qualifiers.
SOPD co-founder Maureen Stockdale said the duo had achieved an amazing feat.
“You cannot imagine what our house was like when we found out we had two going to the games. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t speak,” she said.
“It shows you, if you give people a chance, you can’t believe what they can achieve.
“All Steven wanted to do was kayak. We took him in our camper van up to Nottingham to compete to go to the world championship.
“He had never been to a competition before but he won three gold medals in the 200km races. He has so much dedication.
“What we are after now is money. They have to go to five training camps over the next year and each have to pay £2,500 to go to LA.”
They will also have to stump up another £1,250 each if a coach is to accompany them.
“I’m gobsmacked,” admitted Steven from Crownhill. “I’m proud to represent the SOPD at the world games. I may be a member of Team GB but my first priority is to the members of SOPD.
“I want to thank everybody who has helped me including my family, sponsors and of course Maureen and Alan [SOPD founders]. They took me up to Nottingham in their motor home for the qualifiers and stayed with me for three days.
“I want to come back from LA with gold or at least a medal,” he continued.
“That medal will be for me but the competition will be for my team mates who won’t be there. Nothing will deter me from getting there or beating them [the other athletes].”
Read more: http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymouth-athletes-represent-Team-GB-LA-Special/story-21043581-detail/story.html#ixzz30mG1mlfR
