Special Olympics winner Nicole Gonzales holds her gold and bronze medals at Orange Grove Center on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Gonzales will be at the GoFest event at the Chattanooga Zoo on Saturday.GoFest
The city’s 11th annual GoFest will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Chattanooga Zoo. Admission is free.
“Never give up” is the message gold medalist Nicole Gonzalez plans to share with each person she meets at the city’s 11th annual GoFest Saturday.
“Believe in yourself,” she said Thursday at Orange Grove Center. “Follow dreams.”
Gonzalez competed with some 500 athletes from 77 different countries at the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles, where she won a gold medal in the shot put and a bronze medal in the 4X100 relay race.
She will demonstrate her track and field skills at GoFest Saturday, an event scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Chattanooga Zoo. Zoo admission will be free that day.
“At the core of GoFest is all the educational resources that will be there,”said Marissa Bell, the city’s communications coordinator. “It can help people with disabilities find resources they need.”
GoFest celebrates people of all abilities. The city created the initiative to improve accessibility, break down barriers and raise disability awareness.
Gonzalez suffered a stroke in early childhood that left her intellectually disabled, but that doesn’t stop her, she said.
At age 14, she watched the Special Olympics in Beijing, and told her mother she wanted to participate.
Her mother didn’t believe she would, but Gonzalez started running track after watching the competition.
This year the Special Olympics committee needed a female from Tennessee to fill a slot on its track and field team, and the committee randomly selected Nicole Gonzalez’ name from a list of athletes.
“I guess God just wanted her there,” said her mother, Debra Gonzalez.
Nicole trained for a year with Thomas “TC” Cox, Orange Grove’s health, promotion and recreation coordinator.
She won a gold medal the first year she participated. She also saw people with disabilities celebrating themselves for overcoming their challenges.
She watched one athlete who couldn’t walk complete the 50-yard dash on his hands and knees, Gonzalez said.
“I encourage people to live their dreams,” she said.
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at 423-757-6431 or yputman@timesfreepress.com.