Heather hits the headlines

It's good to see that local gymnast Heather Askew is getting loads of local press coverage for her incredible success at the Shanghai Special Olympics – see report on Audlem Online on 21st October.

This week, Heather has been on the front page of the Nantwich Guardian and featured in the Chronicle. Regular readers will know that Heather returned home from the Special Olympics in Shanghai with an amazing haul of five medals, including two golds. She was also pictured on the BBC Sport's website and said that it was an incredible experience to appear in front of crowds of 80,000, including Chinese President Hu Jintao and Special Olympics ambassador Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Heather, aged 16, has lived in Audlem since she was three and trains at the Camm Street Gym in Crewe. Her gold medals were for the 'beam' and 'overall'; she won silver for 'floor' and two bronze medals for 'vaults' and 'bar'.

The Special Olympics were declared a great success in Shanghai and the closing ceremony featured the tenor Jose Carrera. The next Games will be in Athens in 2011.

Heather was part of the 159 strong GB team who were seen off from Heathrow in late September by England goalkeeper David James and Special Olympics Great Britain's ambassador Lawrie McMenemy. They competed against 7,000 athletes from 169 countries. For many, simply getting to Shanghai was a major achievement. Indeed, the Special Games motto is: "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

Heather's success is a tremendous personal achievement and we are delighted at the media coverage her success is attracting.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.