Hundreds of people crowded into the J.A. Douglas McCurdy airport in Sydney, N.S., Sunday to welcome home speedskating gold medalist Aimee Gordon.

Gordon won a gold and bronze medal in speedskating at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria earlier this month.

People in the crowd at the airport handed out Canadian flags as they awaited Gordon's arrival, and there were balloons and flowers.

When the plane landed, the crowd exploded with cheers. Gordon's family met her out on the tarmac — her dad embracing her in a huge hug.

"Skating was the thing that she always wanted to do," said her father, Skipper Gordon.

Wanted to skate

Aimee Gordon, who suffered oxygen deprivation at birth, never walked until she was four and a half years old, according to her father, but she was determined to learn how to skate.

"We put her on skates when she was seven years old. I held her up one week and the next week her brother went by her. And she said, 'How come he can skate alone?' And I said, 'Because he can skate,' and she said, 'Let go of my hand, so can I,'" said Skipper Gordon.

Aimee Gordon is welcomed back to Cape Breton with cheers and hugs. (Norma Jean MacPhee/CBC)

He said the community support has been amazing and important.

"That's what she is, she's a people person," said Gordon. "Skater second and people first."

Aimee Gordon's aunt, Wendy Nugent, was crying happy tears.

"With her determination and all the work her father and her coach did with her, I'm not surprised," she said.

'She proved to the world that she's able'

Four other Nova Scotian Special Olympians also won medals in Austria.

Daniel Martin took home a gold and a silver in the snowshoe event. Brianna Harris won a gold and a bronze in snowshoe. Robert Fougere and Kaylee Stewart won gold for pairs figure skating, and Fougere won gold in singles.

Aimee Gordon's coach, Cyril MacDonald, couldn't be happier with her performance.

"She skated well, she proved to the world that she's able and she's quite capable of skating," said MacDonald. "And she's got a couple of medals to show for it, so yeah, just thrilled."

Aimee Gordon barely made it off the plane before she was swamped by family and well-wishers. (Norma Jean MacPhee/CBC)

From the airport, Aimee Gordon and MacDonald hopped into a fire truck and were part of a motorcade that travelled to her hometown of Sydney Mines, where hundreds more waited to congratulate her.

Paraded in by members of the Sydney Mines legion, Aimee Gordon waved at people as they drove along.

Longtime family friend Sherry Stewart passed her flowers through the fire truck window.

"This town is so proud of her," said Stewart. "Look at the crowd out here to support her, it's just amazing. She brought the gold home."

A flag with Gordon's name on it will be hung in the rink where she skates and she was presented with a plaque outlining her achievements.