Figure skater Breanna Williams hopes to bring back two gold medals from the Special Olympics next year
Williams has been figure skating since she was four-and-a-half years old
Breanna Williams knows the hard work it takes to become a Special Olympian.
This week, the 15 year-old from Windsor was selected for the 2025 Special Olympics, which will be held in Turin, Italy in March 2025.
Williams says she's been figure skating since she was four-and-a-half years old and that it made her so happy to receive the email from the Special Olympics telling her she made the team.
"I can finally tell everyone about this!," she said.
While she hopes to come back from Turin with two gold medals — in both the level five long and short program free skates, — ultimately, she just wants to have a good time.
"I wanna be happy and have fun."
Williams says she is currently working on an axel to impress the judges. It's a jump where a skater takes off from the edge of their skate blade.
"The hardest is an axel. I didn't do the axel on the ice yet, I'm a little chicken to land it," she said.
What she can do is a camel-layback-back-sit to a back-upright combination spin.
"I worked at it. It's so hard!"
'Thousands of athletes'
Jeff Charlesworth is the Program Consultant with Special Olympics Ontario, covering SouthWest Ontario. He says the Special Olympics is different from the Paralympics in that it's for athletes with intellectual disabilities.
"While some of our athletes do have physical disabilities, the Special Olympics mandate is for athletes with intellectual disabilities," he says.
"We run on a different cycle than the Paralympics and the Olympics that just happened in Paris."
While working as a volunteer Special Olympics track and field coach, Charlesworth saw the camaraderie that formed between the athletes who came to practice every week,
"There are thousands of athletes across Ontario, Canada and the world who are practicing every week with their friends. We'd have 30 athletes who would come out for the high jump, the 100 metre dash and the long distance high jump."
All inclusive space
Even though not every athlete who trains with the Special Olympics is looking to make Team Canada, Charlesworth says that just being at a place where you can be yourself is a big step.
"It's a social opportunity because they weren't really getting the opportunity at their school or with their friends," he says.
"Sometimes they wouldn't get included. So this was an all inclusive place where people could come and do whatever they wanted."
Setting the record straight
For people who think they can beat a Special Olympian at their sport, Charlesworth is here to set the record straight.
"When I coached track, my athletes would challenge me to 100 metre dashes. They would kick my butt every time," he says. "If you think you can waltz in off the street and win a gold medal, you have another thing coming for sure."
He says some of the athletes he's coached can run the 100 metre dash in under 12 seconds.
Charlesworth says there are currently 18 official sports in the Special Olympics and there are more being added.
"We're adding a version of hockey that we didn't have before. Pickleball is coming as well. We're always adding [more sports] and growing. Who knows, 10 years from now, we'll probably have 30 official sports."
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