Special Olympian wins gold, and a special congratulations
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Mandy Kunitz couldn't stop smiling.
The Special Olympian from South Africa sat with her parents in the lobby of the Church Administration Building in Salt Lake City after talking with President Gordon B. Hinckley. Around her neck she proudly wore a gold medal."I liked it," she said of her meeting with President Hinckley, adding that he congratulated her for her Olympic effort.
Six months ago, Mandy had not heard of bocce, one of 23 events in the 1995 Special Olympic World Games, held July 1-9 in New Haven, Conn.
But Mandy's mother, Pat Kunitz, who is also her coach, said that didn't stop her. Mandy, she said, was confident in her abilities at bocce, a game similar to lawn bowling, almost immediately. She learned and perfected the sport in only four months.
"She expected to win," Sister Kunitz said. "A lot of Down syndrome people have the attitude that they can do anything."
Weekly practice with her entire family, members of the Bluff Durban Ward, Durban South Africa Stake, didn't hurt either, her father, Ronnie Kunitz, added.
"She actually played better than we did," he said.
Mandy and her parents had their photograph taken with President Hinckley - something they say will be as special to their daughter as her gold medal.
"Mandy always remembers the prophet in her prayers," Sister Kunitz said. "She is very good about that."
