Special Olympics skaters Jeannie Luersen and Roger Kappesser and coaches Jimmie Johnson and Lorene Caudill returned to the Louisville Airport on Monday, March 7 greeted by family and friends following the journey of a lifetime. The four had spent two weeks in Nagano, Japan as part of Team USA for the 2005 Special Olympcis World Winter Games.
Both Luersen and Kappesser returned proudly displaying the symbols of their accomplishment -- for Luersen, her gold medal from the Women's Ice Skating Competition and for Kappesser a fourth place ribbon from the Men's Ice Skating Competition. And while they, of course, didn't have medals of their own to show for their work, Johnson and Caudill had much to be proud of from their two weeks of service to Special Olympics. Johnson, who served as the head alpine skiing coach for Team USA coached 47 athletes who won a combined 30 gold medals during the Games in Nagano, which ran from Feb. 26 to March 5. Caudill's skaters won four gold medals.
The next Special Olympics World Games event will be back in Asia as the 2007 Special Olympcis World Summer Games will be held in Shanghai, China.
