A STUDENT is toasting success having won three coveted medals after competing with budding international athletes at the Special Olympics.

Teenager Kieran Neary, of Boulderwood Road, Benfleet, travelled to Belgium for the games for people with learning disabilities and returned with a haul of medals.

Kieran, 19, a student at Seevic, in Thundersley, was part of the Team GB Aquatics Squad, and won two silver medals for the 100m backstroke and team medley relay and a bronze for the 100m freestyle.

Kieran, a member of Special Olympics Essex, has learning disabilities and is autistic. As a result he has communication difficulties and problems with learning and understanding.

As a dedicated athlete, Kieran worked hard to prepare himself for competition.

He said: “I train at Runnymede, across the road from Seevic College, and I swim six times a week. When I swim in the mornings I start very early, at 5.30am and continue until 7am. Then, on some days, I swim for two hours in the evening as well.

“As part Team Great Britain I did my best to do very well for our country.”

Kieran also stopped in for a visit to Westminster with Team GB en route to the sporting event.

He said: “Before we went to compete in Belgium we met the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, at Number 10 Downing Street in London.”

Team GB brought back 103 medals, including 41 gold medals.

The 49-strong team joined more than 2,000 other competitors from 58 different countries to take part in the Special Olympics European Summer Games.

Kieran, previously a pupil at Cedar Hall School, is taking part in the Supported Internship Programme with Seevic College’s Skills Academy.