A Port Alberni Special Olympics athlete has returned home from the world stage with a gold medal.
Jolyn Watts, 28, was selected to represent Canada in three track events at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, Germany in June. She came home with a gold medal in the 1,500-metre race and a bronze medal in the Canadian women’s 4x400-metre relay team final. She also competed in the women’s 800-metre race and while she did not medal in that race, she ran a personal best time.
Watts is a member of Port Alberni Local, a Special Olympics club that has been offering sports programming in the community since 1984. Along with track and field, she also competes in bocce, bowling and swimming. Watts is also an Indigenous athlete and a member of Tseshaht First Nation.
The summer Special Olympics World Games are held every four years, similar to the Olympics, with a winter version also taking place every four years. This year’s event took place in Berlin from June 17-25. It drew 7,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities from across the globe to compete in 26 sports supported by 20,000 volunteers and thousands of spectators and fans.
Watts’ local coach, Mike Riddalls, explained that traditionally athletes will compete at regional, provincial and then national competitions to qualify for the World Games. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, national meets have not been held in Canada for the past few years. Watts instead qualified for the World Games based on her performance at a regional track and field competition in Nanaimo in June 2022.
“I had the phone call, and at first I didn’t know if I would be doing swimming or track,” said Watts. “Then I found out I’m doing track.”
Watts was both excited and nervous to get the news, she said. In the nine months leading up to the games, she and Riddalls stepped up their training regimen. Watts trained at her regular track practices at Bob Dailey Stadium, swam twice a week, had strength and conditioning once a week and worked out on her spin bike and treadmill.
Watts explained that she also had to train to regain her strength after two separate bouts of COVID-19.
“I had to get my strength back up,” she said. “I was really sick at Easter.”
Athletes at the games were divided into A, B or C divisions based on their previous best times, explained Riddalls. Watts was placed in the ‘C’ division.
“With Special Olympics, athletes are put in different divisions so all competitors have an equal chance of winning,” said Riddalls. “It’s fairly good for them, and I think there’s more excitement.”
Watts first spent a week in Munich to get acclimatized to the country.
“I had to get used to the time difference,” she explained.
She also had a chance to do some sightseeing in Germany. Her favourite moment was visiting the zoo in Berlin—and winning her gold medal in the 1,500-metre. Watts set a personal best time in the race of nine minutes and 30.04 seconds—almost a minute faster than her previous best time.
Riddalls said that these personal bests came about as a direct result of Watts’ hard work in training. He was not able to attend the event in Berlin, as national team coaches are assigned for all of the Canadian track and field participants, but he cheered her on from Port Alberni.
“She certainly deserves it,” he said. “She puts in a lot of effort and she never complains. I’m pleased to be able to train with her.”
A total of 89 athletes represented Canada in Berlin and came home with a total of 96 medals. Canada participated in nine sports: athletics, men’s and women’s basketball, bocce, bowling, golf, powerlifting, rhythmic gymnastics, soccer and swimming.
elena.rardon@albernivalleynews.com
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