Liam McNally
A 16-year-old Taylors Hill basketballer, Giuliano “G” Maiolo, has returned home from the 2023 Special Olympics Summer World Games in Berlin with a bronze medal for Australia.
G was the youngest player on his Traditional Men’s Division One basketball team, but still came home the second highest goal scorer in the league, with 23 points across three games.
G said that even when South Africa put three players guarding him, he played his highest-scoring game of the tournament.
“The overall atmosphere was ecstatic… It was definitely an honour to put up a fight in Germany,” he said.
“Knowing that we are part of the top three teams in the world… is amazing.”
Although they came close in their two matches against South Africa, Team Australia could not clinch any of the three games, however a last minute bump up to division one meant they were still crowned the third best Traditional Men’s team in the games.
At 16 G said his first world games is “just the beginning”, and he still has his sights on a gold as the “highest peak”.
“I’m really excited to see where it all goes,” he said.
“To my teammates, thank you for the experience that all of you have provided and for all the effort that you have put into making it so far, making us one of the top three teams in the world and putting on a good show for all us Aussies.”
Tears welled G’s dad, Eugenio’s, eyes when he described watching his son play.
“It was really good… Watching him play out of his skin in each game of the comp was the best. I’m very, very proud of him, he put in a lot of hard effort but it paid off.”
