Disabled athletes have shot at glory

More than a thousand athletes, hundreds of coaches and support crews will have their shot at glory when the Special Olympics National Summer Games start tomorrow.

The Special Olympics flame will be lit at Manawatu Arena, Palmerston North, to signal the start of the seventh national summer games tonight.

A worldwide sports movement, with more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries competing in 227 programmes in its summer and winter games, the first Special Olympics summer games were held in Chicago in 1968.

Local body, Special Olympics New Zealand (SONZ), was set up 15 years later with a goal to provide year-round training and athletic competition in Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

SONZ spokeswoman Bette Flagler said athletes at the games would be divided to compete in categories based on gender, age - from 8 years and up - and ability level when the competition started tomorrow.

She said that while the Summer and Winter Games for Special Olympics were not limited to elite athletes, competition was still extremely fierce and competitors trained for hundreds of hours.

"There are some elite athletes here but if a particular athlete completes say a 50m walk they will be celebrated just as highly for doing their best as a person who would have won a medal at the Olympics."

She said all Special Olympics activities reflect the values, standards, traditions and ceremonies embodied in the modern Olympic movement.

"These Olympic-type activities have been broadened and enriched to celebrate the moral and spiritual qualities of persons with intellectual disabilities so as to enhance their dignity and self esteem."

Tonight's opening ceremony will be followed by three days of competition and a closing event on Saturday.

Police Commissioner Howard Broad and athletes spokesman Hamish Taverner will light the Olympic flame.

About 40,000 people - 1 per cent of the population - have some form of intellectual disability.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS
What: The Special Olympics National Summer Games.
Where: Palmerston North .
When: Thursday until Saturday.

THE ATHLETES
* Special Olympics is open to anyone with an intellectual disability.
* 1075 athletes are involved, minimum age entry is 8 with no upper age limit.
* The 10 sports at the Summer Games include aquatics, athletics, basketball, bocce, tenpin bowling, equestrian, football, golf, indoor bowls and powerlifting.
* Special Olympics began in 1968 with the First International Special Olympics Games in Chicago, US.
* More than 3.1 million athletes from 175 countries compete in 227 Special Olympics programmes.