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Members of the Special Olympics Argentina Team, from left: athlete Misael Taboada, coach Alejandro Feldman, athletes Horacio Bustamante and Carmen Barrionuevo pose with some of their medals won during the cycling competitions at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games [Photo by Tom Honan, IRELAND OUT] |
Every athlete who competes in the Special Olympics World Games has his or her own tale to tell of a battle against the odds in order to achieve great things. But in the case of Special Olympics Argentina, which had three athletes competing in the cycling events, head coach Alejandro Feldman had his own physical challenges against the odds.
Prior to the Games, the team had been training hard for the past one and a half years under Feldman. (Each cyclist had been in individual training with other coaches before working with Feldman. Intense training and commitment meant that the team members were in peak condition as they traveled to Dublin for the 2003 Games.
Their equipment was not. Funding difficulties made it impossible for the cyclists to come equipped with the latest bikes and other cycling apparatus. Some of the equipment that they were traveling with was so old that it unfortunately didn’t survive the journey — two of the three bicycles that came from Argentina with the athletes were damaged in transit. Although a team of expert mechanics did everything they could to repair the equipment when the pieces arrived in Dublin, one machine was damaged beyond repair, leaving just two bikes for the three-member team.
“We were devastated when we realized we were a bike down for the World Games, because so much effort and training had gone into getting here,” said Feldman. He and the team was determined to carry on, put forth their best effort, and enjoy their time in Dublin in spite of the setback.
When competition began, Special Olympics Argentina’s team of three shared two bicycles for a variety of events in the Phoenix Park venue, some of which, incredibly, ran concurrently with each other.
That meant a lot of leg work for Feldman. “I had to take one athlete off the bicycle at the finish line, and run half-way around the track. pushing the bicycle as fast as I could so that the second athlete could begin racing,” he said.
Despite such conditions, Feldman’s athletes went on to win three medals — two gold and one silver — in the 500 meter time trial. Feldman’s efforts to keep his team competing, and their own performances, made them heroes in the cycling community.
Elizabeth Flynn wrote the original article this profile was based on; it appeared in The Games Gazette, the official newspaper of the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
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