'We're very much the underdogs of the sporting world'
The streets of Paris are abuzz as the French city gets ready to host the 2024 summer Olympics, with the Paralympics following shortly after.
As security provisions are ramped up and venues prepare to open their doors to thousands of athletes and spectators, rehearals are already underway for the3.5-mile opening boat parade along the Seine, the first opening ceremony held outside a stadium in Olympic history.
However, as the world waits in anticipation for an epic summer of sport, a third, lesser known Olympic event is in preparation, getting ready for their Winter Games in Italy in 2025, and a Summer Games taking place in Chile two years later.
Known as The Special Olympics, the event was founded on this day in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver – sister of former US president John F Kennedy – to provide sporting competition and training for people with intellectual disabilities (IDs), which affect cognitive and adaptive function, such as learning, problem solving and communication skills.
Participants might have Down Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or Fragile X syndrome – but these games are all about championing what they can do, rather than what they might not be able to.
The Special Olympics made its way across the pond a decade later, with the GB charity growing from a single swimming club for people with IDs to a network of 95 programmes across England, Scotland and Wales.
Today, more than 6,500 athletes train with Special Olympics in 27 different sports, from football and skiing to basketball and swimming. Just like the Olympics, the Special Olympics hold summer and winter World Games every four years.
So while huge global audiences will be watching the incredible achievements of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes in Paris – with good reason – Metro is shining a light on this lesser known but vitally important event.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver believed that the Olympic ideals of sportsmanship could give hope and confidence to people with IDs – and those values are still at the core of Team GB’s plans decades later.
Laura Baxter, Special Olympics GB’s current chief executive, had never heard of the charity until she was asked to host a football session for people with IDs nearly 20 years ago.
‘I’d never worked with anybody with a disability before, and almost had a fear of working with anyone who wasn’t from the mainstream,’ she tells Metro
‘But that session gave me the bug. You see an instant difference when teaching new football skills, that’s one thing, but coming away from that initial session you could see that you were doing something a lot more.
‘You were teaching confidence, you were providing the opportunity for people to connect with others, you were providing a safe space for people who have to battle every day.
‘When you start to build that out, running one sport session then contributes to that wider social impact.
‘It developed from that one session to a full team that represented not only the region but went on to represent the country at world games.’
Laura, who has a sports development background, started out as a volunteer coach before joining the national office in 2019.
She was a delegate for the Special Olympics athletes who competed in Abu Dhabi World Games in 2019, and is campaigning for Great Britain to host a World Games in 2031.
But the charity has big aims to increase its reach and raise its profile before then, as until fairly recently the Special Olympics have been very close-knit.
‘In this country, there’s not a huge amount of people who know about the Special Olympics,’ Laura explains.
‘You automatically connect in with the Olympics and Paralympics but you don’t know that there’s a third member in the Olympic family.
‘We’ve got to really amplify our message as an organisation and push it out there so people know about us.
‘We want the opportunity and we have the ambition to host a future World Games, and that would be a game changer for us, but it’s really important that it connects in with the wider purpose of why we’re doing this.
‘We all have our story to tell – people with IDs also have that message that they want to send, so it’s about creating that platform to share that.’
Katie Day, who has dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, has been taking part in the Special Olympics since she was just a girl.
Now aged 39, she has no intentions of stopping any time soon.
From swimming to skiing she’s turned her hand to a variety of sports – and even had the ‘magical and lifechanging’ experience of meeting Eunice Kennedy Shriver after winning a silver medal in Japan in 2005.
At her first ever athletics event in Portsmouth in 1997 Katie lost one of her trainers during a race – but she jokes that she’s learned to tie up her laces before a race since then.
Katie, who runs her own gardening business, recently became chair of the athlete leadership team, where she acts as a spokesperson for athletes to help get their views across during meetings with the charity’s board.
‘I was in my first year of senior school and someone recommended Special Olympics. I started back in 1997 and I’ve been going ever since, from strength to strength,’ she tells Metro.
‘My local club in Birmingham was set up in 1986 so it was a fairly new one, and we literally just walked in for a taster session and it’s been “eat, sleep, Special Olympics, repeat” ever since.
‘It would be an incredible experience and I’d feel very proud and honoured to be representing GB when we hopefully get the 2031 games.
‘It will also highlight us athletes as well, highlight our ability, not our disability, which is what the Special Olympics does altogether – but not a lot of people know that because we’re very much the underdogs of the sporting world.’
Special Olympics has become a family affair for the Days, as her dad is chair of their club in Birmingham, her sister is the treasurer, and her brother and his two children also get involved.
‘Getting your first medal and being on that podium, that feeling of joy and passion turning all your hard work and training into reality, is magical,’ says Katie.
‘Special Olympics makes a better life for people with intellectual disabilities, and with the right support in place you can achieve your hopes and dreams in life.
‘A lot of people say if you’ve got a disability you can’t achieve your hopes and dreams, but people like that are very, very, very, very, very, very wrong.’
Bradley Stuart was interested in playing football from a young age, but he struggled to fit in at mainstream football clubs.
He was bullied at mainstream schools due to his Asperger’s syndrome and PDD and refused to take part in classes.
Thankfully it wasn’t long until he and his dad Nigel found an ‘Soccability’ inclusive club – and within three weeks Nigel was asked to become a coach.
Bradley, now 27, took part in the Summer Games in Berlin last year, winning bronze, alongside his dad who is now chair of the Essex branch of Special Olympics GB.
But he’s seen the lack of awareness about the Special Olympics first-hand, when a colleague at his job in Screwfix mistakenly thought he was taking part in the Paralympics and had to correct them.
‘It’s another experience, it takes you out of your shell. Some people just want to do things that keep them comfortable, but you’ve got to push yourself or you’re not gonna achieve anything,’ Bradley explains to Metro, describing the experience of stepping up from his local club to taking part in World Games.
‘It’s a really good experience. People have different stories, not everyone is brought up the same, people have different lifestyles.
‘My favourite part of playing football is meeting new people – you’re not just playing with the people in your club.
‘You get to meet not just people with IDs, you meet other people who didn’t have IDs, and being treated the same as them was really nice.’
Discussing his proudest achievements at the Games, Bradley adds: ‘Berlin was probably the one that pushed me further than all of them and got my confidence up massively.
‘When I scored my goals in Berlin, before that I was never fit enough to get the opportunity to stay on the pitch, but luckily one of our local gyms gave us free gym membership to help us prepare for the games. That was a big help.’
Nigel recalls: ‘Berlin was a great achievement, as a coach it was amazing, and obviously as a dad as well. There were a few tears just seeing what Bradley’s achieved. His confidence has gone through the roof.
‘It’s about the players, and seeing what they’ve achieved. A lot of people tell then “you’re not good enough” and “you can’t do this, you can’t do that” – they’ve proved them wrong.’
Barry McFarlane, who has mild Asperger’s syndrome, was interested in basketball from a young age, idolising Michael Jordan and other US stars.
So when he had the opportunity to join in a lunchtime club as a teenager in 2003, which brought specialist coaches into his school, he jumped at the chance.
He then joined the Glasgow Eagles, his local club connected with the Special Olympics, and soon he was representing his country at games held in Glasgow in 2005.
‘I was a little bit nervous about it at first, but when I went along one weekend, I knew it was the right place for me,’ he tells Metro.
‘We found out about the Games in Glasgow, and basically got training for that straight away.
‘It was great to play a home game for my first time, it ranks up there as probably the best out of all the things I’ve achieved in my life.
‘It was a fantastic experience and it’s definitely something I can look back on fondly.’
While he’s still an active athlete, 33-year-old Barry, a gym instructor, has also recently started to coach other players at Glasgow Eagles, which he hopes to keep doing for a long time to come.
Discussing the impact the Special OIympics has had on his life, he explains.
‘Any time I went to any tournaments, my aim is always to enjoy myself and have fun, but at the same time, I’m quite competitive and I like to win.
‘Winning golds and other medals is amazing.
‘The Special Games is one of those experiences that will change your life forever. If you’d said to me in 2003: “20 years later you’ll still be playing basketball and even coaching” I probably would have laughed and said there was no chance.
‘But it’s allowed me to pass on my experience to people who are just starting their journeys, so I’ve got a lot to be thankful to the Special Olympics for.
‘I hope in the future I can still inspire people – if I can do that I know I’m doing my job right.’
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