Fayette County’s Michael Crofton was recently honored at the State Capitol for being one of only six Special Olympic athletes from Georgia that will be attending the World Games this summer in Los Angeles.
Crofton was honored by Gov. Nathan Deal and State Rep. Matt Ramsey (R-Peachtree City) on March 19 along with the other five Georgia members of Team USA that will compete in the World Games.
When Ramsey was informed that one of the World Games athletes is from Fayette County “he wanted to do something,” said Debbie Parrish, Fayette County Special Olympics Local Coordinator.
Ramsey invited all the Georgia athletes, their parents, and their coaches to the Capitol to be presented with a resolution. The Georgia State Representative from each area that the athletes represent introduced themselves to the athletes and presented each of them with a Resolution.
“Special Olympics in Fayette County is a terrific program,” Commission Chairman Charles Oddo said. “We have dedicated staff that works with this organization and we are honored to have Fayette County’s very own Michael Crofton to be such a significant role in getting the team to this point. We can’t wait to hear that he’s brought home the gold.”
Also attending the event was a Unified Partner from Georgia, John Kirkland (Unified Partner for Sailing, which is Crofton’s sport). The Unified Partner is a non-athlete that joins forces with an athlete to form a team.
“I am very proud to go to represent Georgia and I think it will be fun,” Crofton said. I am very excited. I really enjoyed meeting the governor.”
County Manager Steve Rapson said “I’ve been an admirer of Michael Crofton for decades. What an amazing young man – those Eagle Scouts are certainly overachievers.”
The Special Olympic World Games is held every two years, alternating between Summer and Winter Games, similar to the Olympic Games.
