Incredible World Games send-off for Special Olympics GB team

The Special Olympics GB team is heading to Los Angeles today (Tuesday 21 July). Over 100 GB athletes with intellectual impairments across 19 sports from England, Scotland and Wales are taking part in the 2015 World Summer Games.

Last night, the team and coaches were honoured at a special official reception, at the US Ambassador’s Residence in Regents Park, London and hosted by The Ambassador, his Excellency Mr. Matthew Barzun. The celebration was boosted with a good luck letter from The Prime Minister, David Cameron.

Stars of sport, stage and screen were present - including Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville and Samantha Bond. 24, Arrow and James Bond’s Colin Salmon, a Special Olympics GB Ambassador, was also there to wish the team success. 

The Professional Footballers’ Association’s CEO Gordon Taylor attended, as his organisation is providing the kit to the two Special Olympics GB football teams. Tracey Crouch MP, Minister for Sport was also present.

The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) Chair, Charles Reed, attended the ceremony.

Special Olympics GB‘s World Games team of over 100 athletes with learning disability - across 19 sports from England, Scotland and Wales - depart Heathrow Terminal 3 this afternoon.

The athletes are ready and excited to be travelling to Los Angeles. 

List of Special Olympics GB athletes at the World Summer Games in LA:

Aquatics

Corinna De Dios-Beckett (Orpington, Kent)

Michelle Moran (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Matthew Allen (Winch Wen, Swansea)

Jonathon Taylour (Barnard Castle, County Durham)

Open Water

Jamie Kelly (Rochdale, North West)

James Wright (Canvey Island, Essex)

Athletics

Jennifer Kitchener (Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire)

Catherine Williamson (Dundee, Dundee)

Steven Bryce (Wishaw, North Lanarkshire)

Mitchell Camp (Hemel Hempstead, Herts)

Leslie Morgan (Sheffield, South Yorkshire)

Jordan Okonta (Littlehampton, West Sussex)

Daniel Wolff (Worcester Park, Surrey)

Badminton

Elizabeth Haywood (Plymouth, Devon)

Karen Lyttle (Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire)

Lloyd Crawley (Penycae, Swansea)

Kevin Trebilcock (Arbroath)   

Basketball

Thomas Brownsword (Folkestone, Kent)

George Dunkerley (Redcar, North Yorkshire)

Lewis Johnson (Mexborough, South Yorkshire)

Daniel Large (Hoddensdon, Herts)

Ben O’Brien (Bromsgrove, Worcestershire)

Shaun Smith (Ormesby, North Yorkshire)

Chris Southwell (Oakham, Rutland)

Stuart Tipp (Eston, North Yorkshire)

Alex Thompson (Sheffield, Yorkshire and Humberside)

Niall Guite (Sheffield, Yorkshire & Humberside)

Bocce

Grace Duncan (Arbroath)

Colin Robertson (Blackburn, West Lothian)

Bowling

Debbie Killoh (Forfar, Dundee)

Kay Paynter (Llanbradach, Caerphilly)

Duncan Reid (Arbroath)

Richard Cooke (Lothian)

Cycling

Leanne Peters (Glasgow, Scotland)

Ruairidh Brown (East Kilbride, Scotland)

Kevin Hughes (Glasgow, Scotland)

David Jackson (Glasgow, Scotland)

Daniel Weston (Barnstable, Devon)

Kiera Byland (Bolton)

Andrew Sinclair (Tayside)

Equestrian

Georgina Maton (Barnet, Herts)

Charlotte MacDonald (Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire)

Jason Chu (Prenton, Wirral)

Sam Oliver (Malvern, Worcestershire)

Lyn Dumbleton (Stirling, Scotland)

Football

Edward Farquhar (Knightswood, Glasgow)

Sean McCulloch (Riddrie, Scotland)

Paul McAlinden (Drumchapel, Glasgow)

Andrew Fulton (Nitshill, Glasgow)

Ben Kelly (Watford, Hertfordshire)

Sean Ellingham (Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire)

Derek Keith (Maryhill, Glasgow)

Andrew Hetherington (Stanley, Durham)

John Maxwell (Glasgow)

Shaun Wotton (Cumbernauld, Glasgow)

Matt Dodds (St Albans, Herts)

Dean Lawrie (Lothian)

Michael MacGurk (Cleveland)

Brad Whitfield (Cleveland)

Alexander Sawyer-Copus (Sunderland)

Unified Football

(Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual impairments on the same team. The principle is that by training together and playing together, it is a quick path to inclusivity, friendship and understanding.)

John Beckett (Mansewood, Glasgow)

Jack Bell (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Alistair Gillies (Letham, Perth)

Steven Johnson (Saltburn, Cleveland, North Yorkshire)

Daniel McCleary (Methven, Perth, Scotland)

James Parker (Knaresborough, North Yorkshire)

Darren McCluskey (Knightswood, Glasgow)

Stewart Robertson - Unified Partner (Meigle, Perth and Kinross)

Freddie Sherwood – Unified Partner (East Herts, Eastern)

Mitchell Presland – Unified Partner (East Herts, Eastern)

Lee McLean – Unified Partner (Forfar, Tayside)

Joseph van ’t Hoff - Unified Partner (Edinburgh,  Lothian)

Golf

David Alexander (Dundee, Tayside)

George Brunt (Bromsgrove, Worcestershire)

Alistair Robertson (Glasgow, Scotland)

Robert Wright (Widnes, Cheshire)

Artistic Gymnastics

Georgia Carslaw (Glasgow, Scotland)

Jennifer Chesterman (Worcestershire, West Midlands)

Holly Riseborough (Stretton under Fosse, Rugby, Warwickshire)

Eloise Clyde-Smith (St. Saviour, Jersey)

Thomas Keeley (Cleobury Mortimer, Kidderminster)

James Lang (St. Helier, Jersey)

Ramsay Meiklem (Renfrewshire, Paisley)

Andrew McLaughlin (Glentham, Lincolnshire)

David Rae (Glasgow, Scotland)

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Amy Clark (Glasgow, Scotland)

Sophie Hughes (Crewe, Cheshire)

Phoebe Lowe (Crewe, Cheshire)

Felicity Martin (Wistaston, Cheshire East)

Alison Mackenzie (Crosslee, Renfrewshire)

Kirsty Robertson (Crewe, Cheshire)

Laura Taylor (Wilmslow, Cheshire)

Elizabeth Cooper (Market Drayton, Shropshire)

Judo

Kathleen Inglis (Wallyford, East Lothian, Scotland)

Sarah Scott (North Shields, Tyne and Wear)

Harry Farley (Rye, East Sussex)

Thomas Farley (Rye, East Sussex)

Christopher Murphy (Glasgow, Scotland)

Holly Tadman (South East)

Kayaking

Kathryn Smith (Kenilworth, Warks)

Adrian Abbott (St. Brides Major, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales)

Stephen Beynon (Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales)

Steven Dodd (Plymouth, Devon)

James Savory (Barry, Vale of Glamorgan)

Andrew Williams (Whitechurch, Cardiff)

Powerlifting

Laura Boag (Dundee)

Helen Burton (Bradford, West Yorkshire)

Paul Booth (Crieff, Perthshire)

James Crossley (East Morton, Keighley)

Robert Simpson (Forfar, Angus)

Chris Woodhead (Bradford, West Yorkshire)

Table Tennis

Jessica Bromley (Wolverhampton, West Midlands)

Emma Hunt (Wolverhampton, West Midlands)

Simon Green (Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire)

Simon Richardson (Montrose)

Tennis

Laura Campbell (Haxby, York)

Lucy Porteous (Kelso, Scotland)

Oliver Beadle (Upminster, Essex)

Aiden Leighton (Leicester, Leicestershire)

 The English Federation of Disability Sport wishes the team and all the supporting staff a fantastic Games.

Special Olympics GB works in partnership with Mencap Sport to form the English Learning Disability Sport Alliance (ELDSA). The two National Disability Sport Organisations work together to promote sport and physical activity opportunities for people with a learning disability. Follow all the World Games' news and conversation with #TEAMSOGB.