Wiscasset’s Anna McDougal, author, artist and advocate for people with disabilities, is now also a two-time world medalist, taking silver and bronze in the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria.

“I was so proud and so excited,” McDougal’s sister Amy  Burchstead, also of Wiscasset, said March 23, the day McDougal won second place, for the silver, in alpine novice slalom; two days earlier, McDougal took third, for the bronze, in alpine novice giant slalom, according to specialolympics.org. Athletes from 105 countries competed in Austria, the website states.

Burchstead watched the silver medal-winning performance at their mother Thyle Shartar’s and stepfather Marty Fox’s Wiscasset home, and got to see McDougal interviewed on ESPN. Asked if that was surreal, she said it partly was. “But I’ve also learned to expect anything from Anna.” Her sister is one of those people who can do anything, Burchstead said.

She attributes McDougal’s many accomplishments to determination, a positive attitude and a lack of inhibitions. Someone else might be worried about what people would think of their autobiography and worry about what to put into it, but McDougal doesn’t have those concerns; she just does whatever it is, Burchstead said.

Wiscasset Newspaper readers met McDougal, who has Down Syndrome, in 2013 after she finished writing her autobiography, “A Look Back.” She described herself then as very positive. “That’s who I am. I don’t like to be negative.”

In May 2016, she competed at a Special Olympics regional track and field event at Wiscasset Middle High School, and gave the athlete oath in front of the crowd. She said in an interview there, she loved Special Olympics for the healthful exercise and the chance to participate in sports.  The event took place after McDougal had learned she would be going to Austria this year for the World Winter Games.

When McDougal left home in Wiscasset mid-March for the Games, she was psyched, optimistic and ready for an adventure, Burchstead said.

Burchstead is grateful and excited at her sister’s opportunity to take to the slopes on a world stage. She added that, as a sister, she was naturally also a little worried to have her sister so far away. She was looking forward to welcoming McDougal back to Maine on Sunday.

In an email Saturday, Fox said he and Shartar were ecstatic and were very proud of McDougal’s accomplishments. “We expect Anna will be on emotional high for some time.”