Athlete Rebecca Heath training for sixth Special Olympics

After more than 20 years as a determined athlete and a lifetime of proving doctors wrong, Rebecca Heath knows how to set goals.

And the goal for New Zealand's Special Olympics in Hamilton is quite straightforward - to beat her dad and golfing partner in the 9-holes unified event.

"I set a lot of goals - to achieve well against Dad; I want to beat him," Heath said.

"He said 'if you beat me, I won't live it down'. And I said 'no you won't, it's true!'"

While all eyes are on the Olympics, which officially launched in Tokyo overnight, 36-year-old Heath has her eyes on a further horizon.

The Lower Hutt athlete has qualified for her sixth Special Olympics, but this December will be the first time the seasoned swimmer takes on golf as her competing sport. She picked it up during last year's lockdown.

"I like golf, it's a new skill and it's outside," Heath said.

"I like swimming but I've chosen golf for my nationals because counting the squares on the bottom of the pool is getting really boring.

"So I said I'll give golf a go."

Swimming is Rebecca Heath's usual sport, but she is competing in golf this year. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Giving things a go has seen Heath excel in all aspects of her life.

She has cerebral palsy and hemiplegia on the left side of her body, and at birth her parents were told she would be unlikely to ever walk or talk.

She's now attended five national games, two transtasman tournaments and the 2017 World Winter Games in Austria. She's also worked as a teacher's aide at Wellington High School for 15 years.

Rebecca Heath is hanging up the swimmers this Special Olympics to give golf a go instead. Photo / Mark Mitchell

"I was very sick when I was born," she said.

"But I proved the doctors so wrong. My doctor is surprised I'm here now, working, living in a flat."

Her mum, Glennis, said Rebecca had never seen herself as having a disability.

"She's so determined.

"Even at kindy her kindy teacher said to me 'She has spent this whole session trying to climb up on that box and jump off like the other kids', and at the end of the session she did it."

A huge source of strength and motivation for Rebecca was her younger sister, Lora, who died of breast cancer four years ago.

Rebecca Heath will be competing with her Dad in golf this December. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Glennis said her daughters had a connection like no other, and Lora had been hugely supportive of Rebecca's success - particularly in sport.

"Without her she wouldn't be where she is today," she said.

"Lora taught her to walk, Lora taught her to talk. They just had such a connection and I wouldn't know what she wanted but Lora would say 'she wants this Mum'.

"Now she's always saying 'Lora's watching me Mum, I have to go faster'."

Rebecca Heath is one of around 1500 athletes who have qualified to compete in the Special Olympics in Hamilton.

Rebecca Heath has been competing in the Special Olympics for more than 20 years. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Established in New Zealand in 1983, Special Olympics is a community movement that creates an inclusive space for people with intellectual disabilities to participate in sport.

It is part of an international movement that began in the United States in the 1960s, and a team from New Zealand will be selected for the next Summer Special Olympics, scheduled for Berlin in 2023.

But Special Olympics CEO Carolyn Young said the competition was about so much more than athletic success.

"The sporting opportunities in turn lead to much more in their life, including things we might take for granted," she said.

"Making friends, growing independence, having an opportunity to go away overnight to a sporting event, [things] they might never have done before."

Unlike the Paralympics, the Special Olympics was not part of the official Olympic movement, and athletes were not divisioned according to their disability.

"We say it doesn't matter if you've got impaired vision or if you've got cerebral palsy or motor skill difficulties with functional movement, and it doesn't matter if you are fully able," Young said.

"If you can run a 100m race in 20 seconds we division you with other athletes who run a race in the same time."

"So when you go to compete in an event, everyone's on a level playing field."

Participating in the Special Olympics was a win all in itself, with athletes gaining independence, friends and health benefits, and everyone rewarded with a medal for their success in competing.

"[There's a] joy of people seeing success and appreciating their own success regardless of what place they've finished in," Young said.

"It's just knowing that they've worked really hard, they've made some friends, they've participated in sport."

Special Olympian Rebecca Heath trains in the pool every week to keep fit for the Special Olympics in December. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In preparation for the games, Heath is now training through the weekend in the pool and on the golf course, while watching her diet - all while juggling her job as a teacher aide.

Coming from a family without a sporting background, she wasn't quite sure what had first attracted her to competitive sport.

"I just do it because I feel good and it makes me push a bit more and stuff," she said.

"I meet different people and I enjoy challenging myself and being out there with other people who kind of know what you're going through."

She hoped she would be able to enjoy sport with her sister's son, now 5, when he was older.

"My little nephew, when he gets older he will realise 'Auntie's really good at this and this'," she said.

Rebecca Heath will be competing with her Dad in golf this December. Photo / Mark Mitchell

"I can't wait because when he gets older, I can show him more things and do more things with him. Hopefully he gets into the sporting zone."

As well as encouraging her nephew, Heath hopes her long career as a Special Olympian can inspire others with disabilities to become involved.

"You can still enjoy life – disability doesn't get involved if you don't let it take over your life," she said.

"You only live once, you've got to do as much as possible in your lifetime."