It’s unbelievable, I’ve been thinking about it for months, it’s been going in
my head over and over and last night I was really thinking about it and getting goose
bumps and really really excited and … oh it’s going to be off the charts.
Slovenian athlete Miran has waited for this day to come. Miran has played football for
15 years but he’s often been shunted off teams.
They were mean to him in the school and every time there was something wrong it was his
fault and they were always nervous when talking to him.
Today’s the day!
Go the red team – yeah!!!
Go the white team – yeah!!!
Go red team!!! We’re gonna win!
Go white team!!
Can’t wait, look at these magic boots.
I like them, I wonder if they make size 22 for Mutombo.
I
think Special Olympics is frequently misunderstood. We don’t want people to come and just watch,
we want people to come and engage. We don’t want people to come and say “aren’t they
nice” or “aren’t they sweet”, we want people to realize that the value proposition
our athletes bring is about everybody – it’s not about them it’s about all of
us and it’s not just something nice it’s actually quite urgent. Our athletes represent
a challenge to intolerance, they represent a challenge to prejudice, fear, to human misunderstanding,
they are the worlds and histories most deeply wounded victims of prejudice. The deep power
of those moments is that they challenge people to think differently about human value.
Just to acknowledge is not enough, I think we need to participate and that’s why I
was with them. I think many of us should participate in ensuring that we promote the rights of
people with disabilities.
Final score 2 all. It ended with a spectacular goal. When it was all over no one doubted
the ability of our 16 Special Olympics footballers.
I was surprised at the speed with which they moved, the skill, the display of the skill,
it actually became very clear to me that the talent is there.
I think I’m taking away from this more than I gave. I saw a piece of skill there that
would have graced any World Cup stage.
Many many World Cup players could not performed the feat that I saw with the last goal scored.
It is not as we imagine that we are not able to do things.
