Special Olympic World Games

Read Time:3 Minute, 13 Second

Trym Aunevik, 17, didn’t return to Longyearbyen with any gold medals – or even bronze. But the same lifetime of determination earning him a trip to the Special Olympic World Games in Abu Dhabi deemed him worthy of competing against the best of the best once he got there and he went three-for-three in the larger challenge of achieving the gold for himself.

Aunevik, one of Norway’s four national champion swimmers at the Games, set personal records during two events and tied his best at a third while finishing fourth, fifth and sixth in the races. He got a “white carpet” reception when he arrived with his family at Svalbard Airport on Saturday evening with bright lights and teenage peers bearing Norwegian flags lined both sides of the snow-covered tarmac greeting him as he emerged from the plane to cheers of onlookers.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.

marksabbatini@yahoo.com

http://icepeople.net

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Read Time:12 Minute, 22 Second

Trym Aunevik, 17, can fire the rifles local teachers carry at recess in case of polar bears, but isn’t allowed to attend school because there’s no program for someone with Down’s Syndrome. But the lessons of a lifetime of challenges and endurance are reaping unprecedented rewards for him – and family and supporters at his side since birth – as the three-time national champion swimmer is achieving new heights of victory this week at the Special Olympic World Games in Abu Dhabi.