Princeton area, New Jersey
The mission of these games was to promote a first-class sporting event that celebrates the achievements of Special Olympic athletes in an Olympic Environment:
Location - Gymnastics was held at the Peddie School in Hightstown, NJ. Using 2 gym areas, one for competition and one for warm up. AAI provided the equipment.
Artistic Women’s competition involved all 4 events and all around in levels I through IV. All athletes competed 2 times. Preliminaries were for divisioning and counted 25% of a gymnast’s award score. Finals counted as 75% of their award score. Any 1 person heats earned their awards based on their score. There were 43 gymnasts competing in levels I, II, & III with ages ranging from 14 to 55. Neither Rhythmic Gymnastics nor Men’s Artistic was offered.
The states involved in Gymnastics were Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.
The Venue Manager was Terry Veit, the Technical Delegate was Kate Hickie and the Sport Commissioner was Barbara Wallace while the head judge was Chris Jackson. Twelve judges and twenty nine other volunteers assisted in helping run the games.
Clinics and demonstrations were held throughout the competition along with Olympic Town, Healthy Athletes, a Trenton Thunder baseball game and a
dinner cruise down the Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty.
Practice in the venue occurred on Monday. Preliminary competition was on Tuesday with Final competition and awards on Wednesday and Thursday. We ended the week with a Gymnastic Showcase open to the public on Thursday night.
The Games Slogan was “Together We Shine!”