Peter"s four medals help Ireland take 5th place

Peter Oxley, a 21 year old from Killavalley, Tyrrellspass, was the toast of his area recently, when he returned from the World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in Portugal with two gold medals, a silver, and a bronze.Peter, son of Chris and Des Oxley, was one of 17 swimmers from Ireland on the team at Albufeira, and there was huge delight when Ireland was placed 5th overall at the event.Chris and Des went to Portugal with Peter, who is the youngest of their family of four, and immensely enjoyed the Championships, which lasted for eight days, with Peter taking part in competitions for six out of those eight days. His favoured type of competition is the backstroke, but he also enjoys freestyle.Competition is nothing new to the young man, who works at the Bridge Training Centre in Mullingar: four years ago, on his 17th birthday, he won gold at the same event in South Africa.But, as anyone who knows anything about top-rank sports will know, there"s a lot of hard work involved in preparation for this sort of competition, and Peter trains several times a week, both with the Mullingar Jets, where members - especially coach Deirdre Hughes - have been fantastic to him, and on Saturdays with the Mullingar Special Olympics Shoot "n" Stars group.Mum Chris is full of praise for those who have helped Peter with his sporting career, which began when he was about ten years of age.She was also delighted that in the wake of the Portugal success, Tyrrellspass GAA Club made a presentation to Peter to mark his achievement, and that he was also honoured by the local Tidy Towns Club.