Belizean Student Athlete Jair Hernandez Honored for Gold Medal Wins in Panama

Student athlete Jair Hernandez has been celebrated since his return from the CODICADER Special Olympics, and today the Minister of Sports paid him a personal visit. Hernandez, a student at Mary Hill RC School in Corozal, participated in the 100-, 200-, and 300-meter races at the Special Olympics held in Panama. He competed in the T 37-38 category, for athletes with cerebral palsy, and claimed three gold medals for his events. Today Minister of Sports Rodwell Ferguson and Director of the National Sports Council Iris Centeno, congratulated Hernandez and gave him gifts to acknowledge his efforts. Centeno told Love News that the performance of the special athletes serves as a symbol of pride for the council and Belize. 

Iris Centeno, Director, National Sports Council: “So we went to Corozal today. They were having their children’s rally there and we thought that it was the best time for us to, you know, give him the spotlight, give him a visit, also acknowledge the hard work of the school and the parents for giving the support to Jair. So we were able to present a certificate to Jari and us also to the school and of course we just didn’t want to go empty handed so as well we presented a small financial token to Jair so that you know we can show him that we are very proud of his accomplishment today. Every time you get to see these kids from Special Olympic participating you also get a lot of hope seeing that you know all though these kids are special kids they’re still you know trying their best they’re still pushing and they’re enjoying life and dreaming just like all of us and I think that it’s important for us to keep giving them the support. For us at the National Sport Council, it’s important to give them direct support. That has been one of our goals since I took over as director, that we want to directly support the athletes. For example, for Special Olympics, we were the ones who fully covered that trip, ensuring that the kids got their flights, everything that they needed for them to be there along with the uniforms and everything that was necessary for them to be at Panama. So yeah, we really took our time to give all the support and be there for these kids.”