Lincoln Academy student, Dalton Kinney recently returned from an exciting trip to the 2009 Special Olympic World Winter Games, held in McCall, Idaho in February.
Kinney won two Bronze Medals in the 100 and 200 yard dash snowshoe events. He also collected a blue near miss medal in the 4×100 snowshoe relay, after he ran out of his snowshoe. The relay team was in first place when the mishap occurred. “I didn’t tighten it up enough,” Kinney said of his snowshoe straps.
Kinney spent months preparing for the trip, including avoiding drinking beverages with caffeine, to prevent altitude sickness. As a World Game qualifier, Kinney was selected from a group of four athletes, to carry the Special Olympic torch and light the ceremonial flame at the Maine Games held at Sugarloaf in January.
Kinney also went to a Colorado Training Camp to prepare for the World Games. While there, he met lots of new friends from all over the country. The most fun part of the World Games was being reunited with the friends he met at training camp, including Maneshea, Vanessa, Erica and Ashley, he said.
Maine had a big send off for their Special Olympic delegates. They received a second sendoff in Utah, before heading to their athletic venues. The Utah sendoff had an ice sculpture with Team U.S.A on it, Kinney said.
Team members were presented a large bag of clothing, including uniforms, cold weather gear and casual clothing. Each country wore a different color. The U.S. colors were blue and white.
Special Olympics initiated a blue and white scarf project for fans to wave in the stands. They received 55,000 scarves from all over the country, which created a surreal scene in the stands.
“The opening ceremony was really big,” Kinney said. “There were 24,000 people. Marching in was pretty cool. The U.S. delegation was the biggest one with about 480. They gave us high fives (as the team marched in, and the crowd was) yelling U-S-A, U-S-A. It made me feel pretty cool.”
Kinney said his friend, John, “got me laughing when he went up to him (vice president Joe Biden) and said Jesum you’re tall.” Marie Shriver also attended the event and walked in with the U.S. delegation. Special Olympics was founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
Police officers from all over the country played music in different languages at opening ceremonies. “I heard people speaking lots of different languages. I talked to people from China, Japan, Brazil, Africa and Canada,” Kinney said. “Sometimes their English was too fast for me to understand. I made lots of new friends, and I was interviewed by someone from the Idaho TV station. I had a great time.”
Kinney showed his fellow Lincoln Academy students a video of the World Games on Fri. Feb. 27, showing the opening ceremonies, the scarves waving and part of the torch from around the world, including the torch being transported on a jet ski.
Kinney is the son of Sherrie Leventon of Nobleboro and Vaughan Kinney of Warren. His parents, cousin Mason Monti, and sister Alecia and her husband Devin Monte supported Dalton at the games.
