Special Olympics: Swimmer Matthew Smith picks up bronze in Berlin

The New Zealand Special Olympics swimming team: Jesse Williams and Haven Drinnan (both back), Bella Lammers and Matthew Smith (front). Photo / Special Olympics New Zealand

Te Awamutu swimmer Matthew Smith took away a bronze medal as part of the New Zealand Special Olympics team’s record 34 medal haul from the World Summer Games in Berlin last month.

Team New Zealand won five gold, 17 silver and 12 bronze medals across six disciplines.

Smith won bronze with his 4x25-metre freestyle relay teammates Jesse Williams of Manawatū, Haven Drinnan from North Canterbury and Bella Lammers of Selwyn.

This was his third time being nominated to compete for New Zealand and hsi first time being selected. He certainly made the most of it, even though he was sick with a cold.

The Te Awamutu local, who has been part of Special Olympics for 13 years, set new personal bests in the 50m and 25m backstroke events.

Smith says he enjoyed the experience - other than the long flights, but the movies got him through that.

During the opening ceremony, the swimmers featured at the front and the closing ceremony saw Smith holding the New Zealand sign.

The group had lots of laughs and he even featured the TV show Breakfast.

Te Awamutu swimmer Matthew Smith with his medal and ribbons. Photo / Jesse Wood

When he was originally named in the team, his mum Shirley didn’t know until she saw the Facebook post.

“I looked and I see this name, Matthew Smith Te Awamutu, and I said ‘oi, what’s this?’. He had this big cheeky grin on his face. It was really good. I told my husband and I got on the phone to [Matthew’s] siblings.”

Special Olympics Te Awamutu swimming head coach Shelley Blair was one person Smith wanted to thank while there has also been so much support from the community, family and the club.

In total, the New Zealand delegation of 39 athletes and 22 support staff joined 7000 other athletes with an intellectual disability from 190 countries in competing across 10 days.

Hundreds of thousands of fans watched the competition in the famous Olympiastadion and other venues.

The Kiwi athletes competed across nine sports: athletics, swimming, bocce, equestrian, football, basketball, golf, powerlifting and 10-pin bowling.

Head of delegation Rowena Massey says while the 34 medals are an important recognition, Special Olympics New Zealand also focuses on improvements, like personal bests.

“We just want our athletes to perform to their best ability, try their best and have fun,” says Massey.

“Medal counts don’t always tell the full story. We also look at athletes like our swimmers who ended up with two bronze medals, but smashed personal bests every day in the pool and gave some top swimmers a real run for their money.”

Smith’s next focus is to qualify for the 2025 Special Olympics National Summer Games in Christchurch.