|
| |
|
| Vitaliy Kupershenskiy of Special Olympics Turkmenistan poses with powerlifting volunteer Claudina Byrne. [Photo by Anita Watts] |
Vitaliy Kupershenskiy, age 21, helped bring the spirit of the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games — "Share the Feeling" — to life. Not only did the Aschchabad athlete garner four bronze medals in powerlifting, but he was also active behind the scenes to make the event a pleasant experience for everyone concerned. As volunteer Claudina Byrne recounts: “I met Vitaliy on the first day when I started as a powerlifting assistant, and we developed a friendship. I liked his spirit — he was always smiling.”
A County Mayo resident, Byrne, originally from Port of Spain, Trinidad, has been involved with Special Olympics for 22 years, and used to teach in a school for children with special needs.
One day when Kupershenskiy had successfully completed his lifting, he stayed near the warm-up room, instead of going back to rest with the other athletes who had finished. Byrne was on duty in the prelifting area. “I was getting so thirsty. I was looking out for another volunteer who might get me a cold drink.” But suddenly there was the Turkmenistan powerlifter by her side with a bottle of Powerade. Byrne was amazed. “You’d swear God went and told him. I asked ‘Is that for me’? He just smiled and was gone. It really touched me.”
The members of the 15-strong Turkmenistan delegation impressed all who met them. The team was easily identified by its distinctive tiputeaka headwear, the national hat, which has cousins in Israel and Kashzhakstan. Each country has its own particular colours, patterns and style of wearing the hat, which is traditionally made by women and worn by men.
Kupershenskiy has been training in powerlifting for the last two and a half years, and is especially grateful to his coaches, brothers Adyl and Yousef Eusenovitsch, for making it possible for him and his fellow athletes to come to Ireland for his first international competition. The athlete was delighted to see Dublin and Bruff, the Co Limerick host town to Turkmenistan, where the delegation visited a fish museum and met local leaders. Through his translator, Kupershenskiy expressed his gratitude to the organizers of the World Games in Ireland for such an opportunity — and he hopes to travel again and see more new places.
Although this is the first time ever that Turkmenistani athletes have entered the powerlifting event, the country won nine medals in athletics in the 1999 Northern California Games.
As for Kupershenskiy, he will always have a special fan in Byrne. “His kindness leaves me speechless,” she said.
Kupershenskiy's profile by Ruth Lysaght, reprinted from The Games Gazette, the official newspaper of the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
|
