It’s not every day a hometown athlete can be called an Olympian.

Congratulations to Tonya Pitts of Uniontown, who is headed to China to compete as part of the Special Olympics Team USA.

Pitts is one of three athletes from the Alabama selected to be a part the team, a delegation that departed Tuesday headed for Shanghai, China, to compete in the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games, set Oct. 2-11.

A gold medalist in previous Special Olympics competitions, Pitts will be playing in the basketball division and competing in the track and field and shot put events.

Floyd Sanders, Special Olympics coordinator for the Cahaba Center on Medical Center Parkway in Selma and Pitts’ coach, said Pitts has been preparing long and hard for the competition.

In July, Pitts attended a five-day training camp held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

It was Pitts’ first time out of the state of Alabama.

The Team USA delegation includes a total of 401 athletes and 102 coaches.

Pitts has been competing in Special Olympics competitions through the Cahaba Center for nearly a decade, but she has been involved since she was a small child.

Pitts’ competition can be tracked online at www.specialolympicsteamusa.org. Photos of her journey and game results will be updated regularly on the site.

We congratulate Pitts on this achievement and wish her well on her journey and in her competition.

Congratulations also goes to Sanders, who has invested much in the Special Olympics program through our local Cahaba Center.