IRISH IDEAS — NIALL McELWEE

“Let me win but if I cannot win let me be brave in the attempt”: Celebrating the Special Olympics in Ireland

My family are all watching TV tonight as I write this month’s column. I feel proud to be Irish and, more generally, part of a global child and youth care community. Our son, Conor, is excitedly viewing the images on the wide screen as you can see from this picture.

Over 75,000 people have packed into our major sports stadium for the opening of the Special Olympics World Games which will last one week. Hundreds of child and youth care workers the length and breadth of the country have given literally thousands of hours of their time to ensuring that the Games will be a success. Dozens of towns and cities have housed delegates and their families.

And, unbelievably, the sun is shining at 9.30pm in Dublin as the delegates make their way into the park. Some 30,000 volunteers will assist the athletes. What a wonderful statistic for me to relay in a time of global cynicism. Each day of the Games medical Doctors, nurses and health professionals are running  a testing (for free!) unit for the athletes coming from developing countries where they can have advanced health screening which would be unavailable to them otherwise.

Political figures such as Nelson Mandela, The Irish President and Prime Minister, sportsmen such as Mohammed Ali, and rock starts such as U2 and the Corrs have made the effort to be here. Our President, a woman from the North of Ireland, has opened the Games. The riot of colour in the stadium comes courtesy of the prisoners in Mountjoy jail who created 70,000 flags of different colours for all the families of the delegates. All who wanted to be included in these special games were facilitated. All were seen to have a voice and a place. It was joyous to see the athletes from Iraq receive a tremendous roar of welcome from the crowd.

Of course, the real stars of these Games are the athletes who have been preparing for years for this occasion. Stars, also, are their families and coaches and trainers who have been with the athletes through the pain of disappointment and joy of victory.

All participants, in all the disciplines, get to the podium if they make it to the finals. This is something we should all strive for in our dealings with children and youth in our care. All are special. All should feel at home. All should feel loved.

One of our best known journalists, Fintan O’ Toole, has summed up thus, “The event
draws on the best of the old values: community spirit, the embrace of strangers, a
genuine internationalism, voluntary effort, a warm-hearted response to those who do
not fit the narrow mould of narrow economic usefulness” (Irish Times, 24.6.03).

In an emotional and passionate speech Eunice Kennedy-Shriver pointed out that on a
global scale, there are 170 million people with “intellectual problems”. Indeed,
there are some 27,000 people with intellectual disabilities in Ireland alone.

On this opening night, even with the rock stars, sport stars and politicians, the athletes
stole centre stage. People with intellectual and physical disabilities were seen as
equal. Their world came to us. We, those referred to as “normal”, were privileged to
witness the years of preparation these very fine athletes put in for the summer games.

I understand that there were some worries amongst the media that there would be little interest in the Games. This has not been the case at all. There are massive queues outside many of the venues and athletes are busy signing autographs. Long may the games prosper.

Be Well,

Niall