BUENOS AIRES 2018: Australia's Youth Olympians have received incredible support and experience from the people of Buenos Aires.
To give back to the city that has hosted them, a group of young athletes took part in charity work at a local animal shelter.
Cormac Kennedy-Leverett and Taylor McCarthy-Smith (Rowing), Giselle Stogdale (Roller Speed Skating), Olivia Erickson (Shooting), Hailey Lea (Sailing) and Zecily Fung (Badminton) attended the Sociedad Protectora De Animals, with Young Change Maker and Rio gold medallist Chloe Esposito.
“It was such a great experience, and quite confronting seeing the animals in the state they were in prior to being rescued,” windsurfer Lea said.
“It’s amazing to see what these volunteers are doing and how they are giving back to the community by looking after the animals and bringing them back to good health, so they can be adopted out to new families.”
The Australian Team also left the shelter with a parting gift, 40kg worth of food, to say thank you for hosting them during Buenos Aires 2018 and for the work they have done in rescuing these animals.
“It’s been such a great opportunity to be able to give back in a small way to a country that has provided us with such an amazing chance to compete in our sport at the Youth Olympic Games,” Lea continued.
“It’s really great to be able to come out and see things you generally wouldn’t see if you were just a tourist,” he said.
“Being able to come out here and meet the animals and be able to give them things that they genuinely need to help the dogs and cats was really special.”
His rowing teammate McCarthy-Smith agreed, saying, “This beautiful city has been so great in hosting us, so to be able to give back to them really means a lot.”
“I love animals, we all love animals so to be able to help in some small way is so great.”
Esposito said hearing of the hard work the volunteers put in to get these animals off the streets and into loving homes made the experience a positive one.
“It was quite emotional, but once the volunteers started to explain all the hard work they put in to make sure these animals are nursed back to health so they can be adopted, the whole experience ended up being comforting at the end,” she said.
“They take in these animals with the goal of fixing them and finding them homes and I think that’s amazing.”
Liana Buratti
olympics.com.au
