SEARCY, Ark. — On the Harding University track and field, over 400 athletes competed in the Special Olympics summer games.
The theme this year was “back at it.”
Last year, the teams could not compete because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But during their time off, the players spent a lot of their time preparing for the competition this year.
At first glance, Amy Price, a powerlifter, may appear to be your average woman. But it does not take long to realize she is more than just the average person.
"I am going to be lifting some big weights,” Price said. “I feel strong. Like I am going to lift up a car or something.”
Price said she has been working in the last year to get ready for Friday’s event.
"I've been doing powerlifting training, I’ve been running, I've been doing all kinds of stuff to keep my body in shape,” Price said.
She competed in the bench press and deadlift powerlifting competition.
It is something that she said she missed doing in 2020 when the summer games were cancelled.
"It was a little lonely because I didn't get the connection that I do now with meeting everybody and saying hi. It was little secluded and everything,” Price said.
Seeing faces like Price's, along with the hundreds of other athletes, is why Camie Powell said she worked hard to bring back the special Olympics this year.
“Coming to an event one time, seeing these athletes with intellectual disabilities teaching you the life lessons I wish everybody knew from day to day. Not taking themselves too seriously, giving it all their best,” Powell said.
She said usually nearly 2,000 athletes compete in the games and while that is not the number she saw on Friday, the people that did show up left her with a smile and sense of gratitude.
“We were happy to just be back doing it and we were able to do it safely. Lots of social distancing, lots of sanitizing,” Powell said.
For Amy, she said she plans on leaving this year’s games with a first-place medal.
“It gets me gold. That's what we're all striving for, a little bling around the neck,” Price said.
Amy won a gold medal in the dead lift, bench press, and double combination competitions.
Powell said she hopes that in 2022, the competition will be back to normal.