Special Olympics R.I. sends athletes to 2017 World Winter Games in Austria

PROVIDENCE – Two of the 150 athletes who will represent the United States at the 2017 World Winter Games in Austria hail from Rhode Island.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these athletes to demonstrate their athletic abilities, competing at the highest level on the world stage, and to have life and cultural experiences that will stay with them for the rest of their lives,” said Chris Hahn, head of the Special Olympics USA delegation.

Chris Lussier, from Warwick, will be competing in snowshoeing and Amy Henrich, from Bristol, will compete in alpine skiing.

Now in his 12th year with Special Olympics, Lussier works at the Glocester Country Club where he enjoys communicating with club members and caddying. In 2011, Lussier traveled to Greece with the U.S. Special Olympics squad to compete for the nation’s golf team, a sport which he played at the Community College of Rhode Island.

- Advertisement -

Henrich, who has been involved with the Special Olympics for 20 years, teaches religious education to first-graders at her local church.

This year’s World Winter Games will be held from March 14-25 in Graz, Ramsau and Schladming, Austria. It is expected there will be 2,600 athletes from 106 nations competing in nine “Olympic-type” sports: floorball, floor hockey, stick shooting, figure skating, speed skating, alpine skiing, snowboarding, Nordic skiing and snowshoeing.

No posts to display