The New Zealand team has enjoyed a successful day at the Special Olympics in Berlin, spearheaded by the four medals earned by Bay of Plenty powerlifter Caroline Tangitau.
Tangitau replicated the performance of fellow powerlifter Ryan Stewart from two days ago with four silver medals in her division for squat, bench-press, deadlift and the overall competition behind China's Sulin Xiong.
"It went great," Tangitau said after the competition.
"I really enjoyed it and pleased I got a medal for New Zealand."
Coach Sonia Manaena said few athletes deserved their success like Tangitau, who been part of Special Olympics for 29 years and has been powerlifting for seven.
"Caroline has had to make some big sacrifices because her usual coach Brian Jenkins in Tauranga was unable to prepare her for nationals and the World Games so she had to travel twice a week to Morrinsville to prepare for Berlin," she revealed.
"It was a pleasure to coach a wonderful happy athlete like Caroline."
Tangitau's four silver medals were part of a big day for New Zealand with four other medals also won.
Len Just and Josh Ryan earned bronze in the men's doubles in ten pin bowling behind Canada and the Netherlands, a day after they picked up a bronze in the team event.
New Zealand also picked up medals on the track although there was also some heartbreak.
Quintin Mahoney won bronze in the men's 1500m final while Melissa Cash took home bronze in the women's mini javelin final.
Jamie Davidson was cruelly denied a place on the podium after one of the biggest mini-javelin throws of his life - over 13m - but the distance disqualified him as it was outside the division's limits that he was competing in, Special Olympics NZ said.
In the pool, the New Zealand swimming team of Jesse Williams, Matthew Smith, Haven Drinnan and Bella Lammers claimed a bronze medal in a tightly contested 4x25m freestyle relay race, again setting a new best time after improving their time in the semis as well.
The Kiwi team employed different tactics from the rest of the field and saved their fastest swimmer for last, allowing Jesse Williams to seal a spot on the podium and even went close to claiming silver.
The medals were a nice consolation for Lammers and Williams after earlier in the day missing out on a medal in the 25m freestyle finals.
In the golf tournament, Mitch Brown has a firm grip on the gold medal after carding another solid round of 75 to move 12 shots clear of the rest of the field.
Only a major change of form would keep the Aucklander from picking up the gold medal in Berlin tonight.
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