Bedard wins two medals at world games

Ray Bedard said he wasn’t going all the way to the land of the leprechaun to come home unlucky and empty-handed.
He proved to be a man of his word.
Bedard, 44, was up to the task of competing against the best of the best, winning a silver medal in the long jump and a bronze in the 200m dash at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland.
“It’s very exciting and I’m very proud of him,” Cindy Baker, Bedard’s personal coach, said Monday from her home here. “The fact that he won his medals in his individual events was terrific.
“I was confident he would win at least one medal, but two is outstanding,” she added. “All his hard work definitely paid off.”
Bedard started his medal collection last Thursday by finishing second in a gripping battle in the long jump event.
After finishing with a preliminary-round best distance of 4.13 m, Bedard came through with a 4.15 m jump in his opening effort of the final round.
He then reached deep within himself for his second try and launched himself to a personal best mark of 4.45 m—tying him with Brazil’s Claudio Garcia, who is 13 years younger than Bedard.
With the gold hanging in the balance, Bedard put forth another solid effort, landing a jump of 4.24 m. But this time, it was Garcia who found the extra energy in his legs as the South American flew 4.54 m to earn top honours.
Jordan’s Kaled Jarrar finished in third with a final round jump of 4.17 m.
“Ray’s the type that doesn’t choke under the pressure,” said Baker. “He gets that burst of adrenaline that helps him do well in meets.”
Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Mousa looked to have the gold all to himself after posting an amazing jump of 4.97 m. But he subsequently was disqualified, although the reason was unclear as of press time.
The only downside from the medal win for Baker was the fact that after clinching the silver, Bedard’s attempted phone call to her at 1 a.m. local time went awry as the line went dead before the operator could transfer the call from Ireland.
Bedard chased more glory in the 200m event and got off to a decent start with a time of 30.78 to finish fourth in his preliminary heat, which was won by Australia’s Christopher Kassulke in a clocking of 26.87.
Kassulke and Bedard went head-to-head again in the final, but Poland’s Pawel Moszczynski blew past both of them to win the gold in a time of 25.66.
The Australian runner settled for the silver (26.13), with Bedard claiming the bronze (30.15). He had qualified for the world games at last year’s nationals with a time of 31.11.
Mathieu Victor of the Seychelles—the fourth entrant in the final—did not start the final.
Then in the 4x100m relay, Bedard and his team of Steve Gauthier, Kalim Keays, and Jean-Francois Leclerc looked strong in winning their preliminary heat with a mark of 53.33—almost four seconds faster than their Games’ qualifying time.
Great Britain 2 was second at 56.35 while Switzerland I was scratched before the race.
The final turned out to be a much tougher test as Canada 2 came in eighth with a clocking of 57.28.
South Africa 1 snatched the gold in a time of 49.61 while Kenya 2 (50.99) and Ecuador 2 (51.25) rounded out the medal winners.