Special Olympics provide a lesson in unity
Humble athletes set new standards in fun and resiliency, Sean Speer says.
At a time of great rancour and polarization, Canadians can look this week to Thunder Bay, Ont., for much-needed evidence of solidarity and joy. The city is hosting athletes and coaches from across the country for the 2020 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games.
The five-day event will see 900 athletes compete in alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating and speedskating, snowshoeing, curling, floor hockey and fivepin bowling. These athletes, who range from age 13 to mature adults, have been preparing for several months for the competition. And more than 500 local volunteers and dozens of sponsors have similarly been working hard to make the games a successful enterprise.
The early signs are highly positive. The games kicked off on Tuesday night with a spectacular opening ceremony that was sold to capacity and livestreamed to the world. It was impossible to watch and not feel good.
The Special Olympic Canada Winter Games occur every four years and are a qualifier for the Special Olympics World Games that are set for 2021, but currently don’t have a venue. The last Canada games were held in Corner Brook, N.L., in 2016.
Canada finished third with 139 medals at the world games in Austria in 2017.
Special Olympics Canada has been enriching the lives of Canadians with intellectual disabilities for a half century. It operates out of sport clubs in 12 provinces and territories and involves more than 45,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities representing all ages and abilities, as well as 21,000 volunteers each year.
The organization’s durability is a testament to the reciprocal benefits of volunteerism, civic engagement, and surrendering one’s ego to something bigger. As the Special Olympics’ mission puts it: “It’s at the local level — right here — where interested volunteers meet the athletes. That’s where the perceptions start to change and where the miracle of transformation takes place.”
Two key insights from the Special Olympic Canada Winter Games are relevant for all of us. Let me outline them here.
The first is about resiliency. My mom spent her career at George Jeffrey Children’s Treatment Centre in Thunder Bay, which provides a wide range of services to children and families touched by intellectual and physical disabilities. She regularly encountered families who have faced challenges that most of us couldn’t fathom and which make our day-to-day issues seem frivolous and small. Yet they keep on with dignity, love, and a human spirit that should inspire us all.
The second is humility. What distinguishes these games from so much else of modern society is the lack of cynicism, self-importance, or guile. The athletes exude a decency and humility that’s unintentionally yet profoundly countercultural. They set a new standard of comportment.
Yes, of course, the competition will be fierce, the cheering will be a bit louder for local athletes, and medals will ultimately be awarded. But what makes these games special is the solidarity shown among the athletes, the coaches, the volunteers, and the crowds who are encouraged to be slightly better by being spectators to it all. Sportsmanship isn’t a cliché here. It’s a call for togetherness.
Sean Speer is a Canadian policy researcher.