‘Dream come true’: Spectator at Special Olympics 20 years ago is now a competitor

For Margaret Turley it was a “dream come true” to be able to compete at this year’s Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, having missed out four years ago due to a broken wrist.

“I remember when I was at the opening when the Special Olympics came to Dublin [in 2003] and I said to myself that someday I wanted to be able to play in the Special Olympics, and now I am,” said Margaret (33) who is on Team Ireland’s women’s basketball team.

Cheering Margaret on from the sideline were her family from Co Kilkenny, including godchild Aoibh (one), who donned green T-shirts with her face on the back and a large Tricolour flag.

Chants of “olé, olé, olé” rang out across the court, despite the team narrowly losing their opening game at the Messe venue on the first day of the competition.

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“She [Margaret] was so excited, I was afraid she wouldn’t be able to sleep with the excitement,” said her mother Áine Turley.

“There was also a bit of anxiety attached to it, because they want to do their best, they want to train well. It’s huge.”

Athletes from 187 nations are taking part in this year’s World Games, including a team of 73 from Ireland, who will compete across 12 sports – athletics, badminton, basketball, bocce, bowling, equestrian, football, golf, gymnastics, kayaking, swimming and table tennis.

Minister of State for Sport Thomas Byrne, who was among the large contingent of Irish supporters at the Messe event centre, said he would “love to see” the Special Olympics World Games return to Ireland.

“There’s been no approaches about it but I think everyone is remarking that it’s 20 years ago this year [since Ireland hosted the Games in 2003] and what it did for Ireland, what it did for Special Olympics, what it did for inclusion, is really important,” he said.

“If anyone comes to us, we certainly will look at it, but that’s a matter for the world organisation.”

The Minister also noted that Maria Shriver – the daughter of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver – joined the Irish delegation during the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday night.

“Maria just decided herself she wanted to walk with Team Ireland and all the athletes, and everyone was really honoured that she did that,” Mr Byrne said.

“It was just great because the Shriver family knows what the Special Olympics means to Ireland and what Ireland means to the Shriver family as well ... She was so warm with everybody.”

Ms Shriver’s brother Tim, who is chairman of the Special Olympics, referred in his speech at the opening ceremony to the “weight of history” and, in particular, black American athlete Jesse Owens who won four gold medals at the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936.

“Here in 1936, on this track, one of the most brutal regimes in history was confronted by one of the bravest and most courageous athletes in history, Jesse Owens,” Mr Shriver said.

“And there has not been an Olympic torch in this stadium in almost 90 years, until tonight. You are the heirs of the torch of Berlin, you are the architects of the future of Berlin, of Germany and of the world.”

Nicholas O’Brien, Irish ambassador to Germany, said he didn’t believe there was any other nation who had embraced the past “more honestly and more openly” than Germany.

“The [Olympic] Stadium is more or less as it was in 1936; the steps up where Hitler and the Nazi’s stood, it’s still intact,” he said.

“It’s a little bit shivery almost ... but the burden of history is really deep here and you see it at governmental level, their relations with other countries, they’re very careful with respect for certain countries.”