Bermuda's Special Olympians received a rousing welcome when they arrived at the Airport last night bearing more than 20 medals won during the games held in New Haven, Connecticut.

Despite a heavy downpour, 10 officials and 38 athletes stepped from an American Airlines 757 jet under red and blue umbrellas.

Youth Sport and Recreation Minister the Hon. Pamela Gordon who was overseas on business, also came home on the same flight.

Inside the terminal hall a delegation that included Human Affairs Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill, Youth, Sport and Recreation director Mr. Anthony Roberts and Mrs. Judy Siddle, vice president of the Bermuda Special Olympics Association, welcomed the athletes and ushered them into the VIP lounge.

Outside the Airport throngs of parents, relatives and friends waited for their special heroes.

The competition which began on July 1 and ended on Sunday, ran for two weeks.

There were 7,600 athletes from 143 countries and 48,000 volunteers.

Athletes competed in track and field, bowling, soccer, swimming, tennis, golf, bocce and equestrian events.

Ms Valerie Young, president of the Bermuda Special Olympic committee, said this was the largest contingent of athletes ever to represent Bermuda at these games.

And although competition and winning medals was important, she said, there were some deeper lessons too.

She said the Bermudian athletes met and interacted with people from other countries who had different customs and languages.

Moreover, the experience of eating meals together in the cafeteria, she added, exposed them to other competitors with diverse diets and this made the entire trip educational.

Meanwhile, Mr. Henry Douglas, the oldest member of the contingent at 64 and a silver medalist in the bocce event, caused some distress to organisers last week when he decided to go for a walk and ended up in a town called Milford some 10 miles away from New Haven.

He was reported missing around 3.30 p.m. last Tuesday. A resident recognised Mr. Douglas from a television newscast, picked him up in her car on Wednesday and brought him to Police headquarters some 21 hours after he had been reported missing.

Mrs. Young meantime, said the Special Olympics was a productive trip although the two weeks of activities seemed a bit long.

"Some participants had to travel long distances to compete in their events, like the swimmers.

A warm welcome for Bermuda's Special Olympic athletes "The equestrians had to be driven in cars to get to their event. In spite of all that, they did well, but I'm sure they could have done even better were things not so spread out.'' A body believed to be that of a Special Olympics athlete from Nepal who drowned while swimming at a US state beach last Thursday, was found washed up against a jetty on Monday, state police said.

The athlete, Ramesh Mali, 21, the son of an impoverished family from the city of Katmandu, disappeared while swimming at the beach with two fellow soccer players and a volunteer from the international event.

The body was taken to the state medical examiner's office in Farmington, where the identity will be determined.