Big Island athletes help Hawaii add gold at Special Olympics USA Games
Hawaii's Special Olympics team added two golds in Minneapolis as 16 athletes, two Unified Partners and coaches from Hawaii Island and other islands competed.
Hawaii's Special Olympics delegation added two gold medals in the Twin Cities as the 2026 USA Games moved through Day 3. The roster includes 16 athletes, two Unified Partners and coaches from Oahu, Kauai, Maui and Hawaii Island, putting Big Island athletes and support staff on the same national stage as competitors from across the country.
Special Olympics Hawaii announced Hui O Hawaii on Feb. 10, with athletes set to compete in basketball, bowling and track and field. The team also includes youth leaders from Campbell High School and retired Hawaii Police Department Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz, who is serving as a Law Enforcement Torch Run officer, underscoring how many different corners of the state feed into one delegation.
The golds came from Maui athlete Eva Ujano, who won the 100-meter walk and the 400-meter walk. The official results page lists Ujano as 58 and from Wailuku, and it also shows she competed in the 4x100-meter relay. Those medals lifted Hawaii's profile in a meet built to showcase athletes with intellectual disabilities on one of the sport's biggest stages.
The 2026 Special Olympics USA Games are running June 20-26 in Minnesota's Twin Cities and bring together 3,000 athletes, 1,500 coaches, 10,000 volunteers and an expected 75,000 fans. This year's program features 16 sports, with cornhole and pickleball making their official USA Games debut, giving the competition one of its broadest lineups yet.
For Hawaii Island, the significance goes beyond the medal count. Special Olympics Hawaii says it serves more than 7,200 athletes and Unified Partners statewide, backed by more than 7,800 coaches and volunteers. That network is what carries athletes from local training sites and school gyms to a national event in Minneapolis, and it is what makes a delegation from the Big Island possible even when the podium finish comes from another island.
The results page also listed Brandon Taitingfong of Ewa Beach, 21, in bowling preliminary competition, and Hawaii's broader lineup continued to fill out across the event as the Games moved toward their June 26 finish.
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