It’s another golden summer for Richmond swimmer Magnus Batara and this time it came on the world stage.
The 23-year-old is back home after winning four gold medals for Canada at Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles.
Batara capped a magnificent week by capturing the 200 metre breaststroke (2:56.66) on Saturday — finishing ahead of Canadian teammate and Quebec native Andrew Perez. He earlier won the 100 metre event in the same stroke with a time of 1:21.95, placing nearly three seconds better than competitors from Sweden, Paraguay and Iceland.
On Thursday, Batara captured the 100 metre M1 butterfly event with a dominating performance, finishing 10 seconds ahead of Canadian teammate Matthew Hunter with a clocking of 1:14.00. Mexico’s Josue Flores was third.
The result came two days after Batara was a member of Canada’s winning 4x100 medley relay team. He combined with teammates Elliot Moskowy, and Michael Qing and Perez to finish ahead of the United States.
Team Canada, featuring 115 athletes, finished the World Games with 144 medals, including 71 gold, 47 silver and 26 bronze. Held every two years. the World Games featured over 7000 athletes from 177 countries, competing in 26 different sports.
Last summer, Batara was a force for Team BC at the Special Olympics Canada Summer Games, earning three individual medals, including gold o the 100 breaststroke.
It was a performance that helped him earn the 2014 Special Olympics B.C. Athletic Achievement Award.
A year earlier, he competed in the Special Olympics Division of the Canada Games and broke an eight-year-old record with his winning time in the 50 breaststroke event.
He has been competing in Special Olympics competitions for eight years, including other sports such as floor hockey, basketball and athletics.
The autistic Steveston-London graduate also swam for Canada at the 2011 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships in Edmonton and the Inas Global Games in Italy.
