Jamaica cop three silver

Jamaica won three silver medals at the 2011 Special Olympics Summer Games in Athens, Greece, yesterday.

Roller skater Romaine Austin captured two medals, and Monique Brown added the other.

The island's Special Olympians also placed themselves in a favourable position for a medal in the 11-a-side football competition, as they brushed aside Denmark 1-0.

On Tuesday, they had lost 1-0 to Ecuador. Jamaica's medal prospects was aided by Russia's loss to Uruguay yesterday.

'Doing very well'

Executive director of Special Olympics Jamaica, Lorna Bell, said: "Jamaica's young team is doing very well, but this year is not like what was happening two Summer Games ago, as all the athletes here from all over the world are well prepared and properly trained. It is amazing and unbelievable the quality of the competition that we have on show at this Games."

Austin's silver medals were won in the 100 and 300 metres roller-skating events. In the 100 metres Austin, the youngest athlete at this summer's Special Olympic Games at 14 years, finished in a time of 14.14 seconds, behind South Korea's Jeong Su, who clocked 13.89.

In the 300 metres roller skating, he completed the distance in 42.82 seconds.

Brown's silver medal came in the 300 metres roller skating.

Jamaica's veteran Special Olympian Nigel Davis is expected to put in a good performance in the 1,000 roller-skating event when he takes the field today.