17-year old Skye Westwood, from Aylesbury, has won Gold for the Special Olympics Great Britain team (British Judo Association) at the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi.
Skye is the daughter of Trevor Westwood, who has worked at Westcott-based company Total Carbide for many years.
The firm has allowed Trevor - who is also one of Skye’s coaches - flexible working hours where required, and recently attended a fund raising activity in Aylesbury.
Total Carbide is one of the European leaders in the design and manufacture of tungsten carbide wear parts. The company is a member of the Versarien plc. group, under the leadership of keen sports enthusiast Neill Ricketts, and supports top British athletes in a variety of disciplines. It has now arranged for a professional sports manager to take Skye under their wing.
"Special" Judo is not yet part of the Paralympics. Therefore, the next stepping-stone for Skye would be to present her sport at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, in the hope of having them included in 2024. Skye had already won the "Special" World Championship in Cologne, back in 2017.
Special Olympics Great Britain was set up to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with learning disabilities.
Total Carbide’s green credentials are also impressive, winning ‘The Green Award’ at the 2018 SME MK & Buckinghamshire.
