Shannon Swinson is a Special Olympics athlete from West Niagara who has participated in sports such as Swimming and Athletics for the past 10 years! To Shannon, Special Olympics means getting to see her dreams come true, by allowing her to do the sports she loves and have fun with her team. She wants to tell donors and supports of these programs that they are a huge part of her success. Without the endless help, Shannon says she would not be able to achieve nearly as much success.
One of Shannon’s best Special Olympics memories is her time spent competing with fellow Track and Field athlete Julianne Miskz. They met at a school Athletics competition, and then together became very successful Special Olympics athletes. Julianne passed away in 2020, which was a tremendous loss for Shannon. When Shannon sees butterflies, it reminds her of Julianne and her legacy, and it inspires her to keep competing and run as fast as she can.
Another strong Special Olympics memory of Shannon’s were the 2017 Provincial Summer Games in Peel. Shannon performed exceptionally well and earned 4 medals at the tournament! She will now be competing at the Canada Summer Games in Niagara Falls, which you can learn more about at https://niagara2022games.ca/. Good luck Shannon, we cannot wait to root you on!