The four Mayo athletes who were competing in Athens in the Special Olympics Word Summer Games returned home to heroes welcomes with a huge haul of medals you. The four strong contingent of Mayo athletes Deirdre Gannon. Deirdre Garvin, Paul Kavanagh and Mary McDermott came back to Mayo with six medals among them. The athletes from Claremorris, Swinford, Castlebar and Westport were part of a 126 strong team who brought back 107 medals from the games.
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring congratulated the athletes after greeting them following their arrival back in Dublin following the games. Minister of State Ring was also in Athens during the first weekend of the games, where he took in plenty of the action. “I am delighted to congratulate our Mayo athletes, Deirdre Gannon, Deirdre Garvin, Paul Kavanagh and Mary McDermott on their wonderful performances at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens,” he said. “Very few of us get the opportunity to represent our country on the international stage and you have all been outstanding sporting ambassadors for Mayo and Ireland. I would like to pay tribute to all the coaches and volunteers who helped prepare our athletes so well for the Games and to wish you all well for the future.”
