Special Olympics Gibraltar 39th National Games 2024 Day 3 – Bowling And Swimming

by Andrew Ramagge

Last Friday was the final day of the Special Olympics Gibraltar 39th National Games and the games finished on a high with the swimming competition, at the Lathbury pool for the first time, followed by the closing ceremony. Athletes from Special Olympics Gibraltar (SOG) competed against Special Olympics Isle of Man with 13 thrilling races culminating in the 4 x 25m relay. The SOG team consisting of Hannah Colton, Douglas Pitaluga, Sallyann Mauro and Ivan Gomez Mannion came in comfortably in first place to claim the gold medal.
The Games were then officially closed by Minister for Sport Leslie Bruzon who gave the closing speech before the Olympic flag was lowered by the athletes and the Olympic flame extinguished for another year.
Earlier in the day the bowling competition took place at the Kings Bowl Bowling Alley. With more competitors than ever before, this included a singles event, doubles event and two team games. In the singles event SOG athletes Samyr Anakkar, Patrick Slater, Marvin Zammit, Lucy Stewart and Max Desoiza all brought home gold medals whilst in the doubles Shane Martinez and JJ Buttigieg, Adam Stewart and Glen Wimbleton, and Jan Lopez, and Frederick Barker all beat their Manx opposition to claim gold, whilst Jeffrey Migliori and Miguel Rubio beat local opposition to claim their golds. In the two team games Shane, Glen and Jan beat the Isle of Man by 1,216 to 859 points while JJ, Adam and Frederick narrowly lost to their Manx opponents by 944 to 930 points.
Following the closing ceremony the athletes and families retired to the Retreat Centre where over 100 of them celebrated the success of the Games with a party and barbecue. It was agreed by all that these games were a huge success with more participants then ever before and, with the new facilities used, again proved testament to what a great sporting venue Gibraltar is.