Indian team finished in a high note in the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games with a triumphing 73 medals held in Austria between March 18 and March 24. These games are meant for the specially-able person and India finished as a special team with 89 participants.
- India finished the games with an overall medal tally of 37 gold, 10 silver and 26 bronze with total tally of 73 medals.
- To achieve this great success athlete competed with 2,277 athletes from 113 countries. Our troop of athlete is lead by Special Olympics Bharat (SOB) board.
About Special Olympic World Winter Games, 2017
2017 Special Olympic World Winter Games, is the 12th Special Olympic World Winter Games held in Graz and Schladming, Austria with a motto “Heartbeat for the World”. It took place from March 14 through March 25, 2017 with 27 events (9 sports).
- The games include Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing and Floor ball, Figure Skating, Snowboarding, Speed Skating, Snowshoeing and Stick Shooting.
- The highest number of participation is from the hosts (Austria) with total of 320 athletes followed by USA (139 athletes).
- The next Special Olympic World Winter Games will be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE in the year 2019.
Indian medal reports
The highest numbers of gold medals are won in three team events. They include Floor Hockey (male), Unified Floor ball and Traditional Floor ball where India clinched 30 out of 37 gold medals in a single day.
- The highest number of bronze medal is collected by ‘special’ women hockey team with 16 bronze medals.
- Indian team also done well in the sport called Alpine skiing raking, where it won a total of 10 medals including 3gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze.
- In Snowboarding, India finished with 8 medals including 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze
medals which is followed by snow shoeing with a total of 5 medals including 2 silver and 3 bronze. - Our team also done well in Speed and figure skating where it collected 4 medals with 3 silver and 1 bronze.
medals which is followed by snow shoeing with a total of 5 medals including 2 silver and 3 bronze.Indian athletes medal report
Indian medal tally is opened with the Punjab sportsperson named Shamsher Singh, for his splendid performance in snow shoeing on the first day which is India’s first silver medal.
- India’s first gold medal was won by six special athletes on March 21 for Alpine skiing and snowboarding.
- Megha , a Himachal young woman created history by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal in the games which were held in Graz, Schladming and Ramsau in Austria. She bagged the gold for Alpine Skiing.
- The another teammate from Himachal named Sanjay Kumar who is an Indian Army soldier and recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, got two gold’s for Snowboarding .
About Special Olympics Bharat (SOB)
Special Olympics Bharat (SOB) is the special Olympic board operated in India for training the persons with disability and who got handicapped in their service for the nation. Founded in 1987, it is headquartered in New Delhi.
- A total of 885 Special Olympics Bharat athletes have participated in eight World Summer Games and five World Winter Games between 1987 and 2015.
- They have won 322 gold, 343 silver and 397 bronze medals in the world summer and world winter games bringing a combined count to 1062 Medals. With these 73 medals the tally of Indian medal list gets bigger.