A Wexford Olympian – John Doyle

A Wexford Olympian

John is one of Clúid’s Wexford residents. He’s also an Olympian! John represented Ireland at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi. Over 7,000 Special Olympic athletes from 190 different countries competed at the Games.

John is a member of the Special Olympics Club Gorey Area (SOCGA) which focuses on aquatics, badminton, bocce and football. John has been an active member of the Special Olympics since 2004. He was one of 91 athletes representing Team Ireland in Abu Dhabi. Here he tells us what it was like.

“I was nervous for the first match, but my nerves settled after that. I was very proud representing Ireland. I met people from all around the world.”

The Team won an impressive 86 medals. John, who played singles and mixed doubles in
badminton at the Games, came home with two bronze medals. He was interviewed on Newstalk just after he won one of his medals and said:

“I’m overwhelmed and thrilled. It feels amazing. It’s a very proud moment, the best moment of my life”.

John arrived back to Gorey from the Special Olympics to great fanfare. His club organised a homecoming for him which travelled down the Main Street with a Garda escort to the Naomh Éanna GAA Complex for refreshments afterwards. We asked John if he planned to take the summer off after all his hard work earlier this year, but he said no, he would be in training. We suppose that’s what you need to do when you’re a world class athlete – your work is never done!