Casey Petrie with Olympic swimmer Mack Horton.
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Cobram’s Casey Petrie returned from her third Special Olympics Australia National Games last month with four ribbons and plenty of special memories.
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Casey represented Victoria across four swimming events at the Games, held in Melbourne from October 19 to 23.
She came forth in the 50-metre freestyle, fifth in the 100m freestyle, seventh in the 50m backstroke, and sixth in the relay.
Casey said she was “really proud” of her results after months of training for the games.
She admitted she was “really nervous” before each race, particularly on the first day when she had to compete in the morning.
Casey received four ribbons at the Special Olympics Australia National Games in October.
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“Normally, I have my races in the afternoon, so it threw me a bit,” Casey said.
“But after a while I got in the zone and learned to focus ― I just tried to imagine the race itself before I actually had to do it, and that seemed to work.
“Talking to my friends as well helped to distract me.”
Despite the nerves, Casey said the atmosphere at the games was great.
“There was lots of cheering and excitement,” she said.
“I made some new friends, and it was really exciting being part of the team, wearing the Team Victoria uniform and watching the other races as well was pretty cool.”
Casey starting the starting 100m freestyle at the National Games.
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Perhaps the biggest highlight for Casey, however, was getting the chance to meet Olympic swimmer Mack Horton.
“That was pretty amazing,” she said.
“He was there handing out ribbons and medals and I actually got to meet him twice ― he came to meet Team Victoria one day.
“I’ve watched him swim before on TV, and he’s really good, so that was pretty exciting for me to meet him and talk to him about swimming.”
After completing at her third Special Olympics National Games, Casey is now looking forward to taking a well-earned break before returning to training in January.
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