WEST WINDSOR: Special Olympian going to Greece

By Allison Musante, Staff Writer
   WEST WINDSOR — On her blog “Aqua Girl World,” Margo Lee is counting down the days until she joins 7,500 athletes from around the globe at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece, at the end of this month.
   The 23-year-old from West Windsor is one of seven athletes chosen to represent New Jersey on Team USA. As her first time in the World Games, she will be competing in the aquatics division in the 50-meter backstroke and 50-meter freestyle in the games, which will be June 25 to July 4.
   ”I’m a little bit nervous, but I’m really excited,” she said.
   But before she packs her bags, Ms. Lee will compete locally this weekend in the Special Olympics New Jersey Summer Games at the College of New Jersey.
   From Friday to Sunday, she will compete in aquatics for the 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke.
   Ms. Lee’s father, Andrew, said she has been swimming since she was 2 years old.
   ”I am so proud of her that she stuck with it and has gotten to this point,” he said. “I’ll be there cheering her on. She will be spending a lot of time with the team, but we will be looking for her from the bleachers.”
   A 2007 graduate from West Windsor Plainsboro High School North, she has been swimming for the Monmouth Marlins, a Special Olympics youth team based in Freehold, for many years. She has organized practice three times a week for an hour, but practices much more on her own.
   ”I just love being in the water as much as I can,” she said.
   Earlier this year, she walked away with a gold medal in the 100-yard backstroke and a silver medal in the 100-yard freestyle. In March, she and the other six New Jersey athletes went to San Diego for a training camp.
   ”I plan to keep practicing flip turns so I can swim faster in Greece,” she said on her blog about the trip.
   She won the spot to Athens after qualifying at the Special Olympics National Games in Nebraska last summer.
   ”I won three gold medals,” she said.
   When she isn’t in the pool, Ms. Lee said she can found working at Gold’s Gym or taking classes at Mercer County Community College. She also enjoys cross-country skiing, power weight-lifting and soccer, which she has played at the Special Olympics level.
   She said she will blog every day leading up to and during the World Games on her website “Swimming My Way to Greece with Special Olympics” at www.aquagirlworld.blogspot.com.
   Eunice Kennedy Shriver organized the first Special Olympics international games in 1968 in Chicago. The concept was born in the 1960s, when Ms. Shriver started a day camp for children with intellectual disabilities. The Special Olympics New Jersey has existed for 40 years.
   The Special Olympics mission is still driven to providing year-round athletics and training for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, it says on the web site, by “giving them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.”