Special Olympics: 48-strong Singapore’s contingent in Los Angeles

A team of 48 athletes and coaches will represent Singapore at the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games. The opening ceremony for the Special Olympics was held on 25 July, and signaled the start of the international sporting event that is held over nine days in Los Angeles this year.

Singapore’s athletes will compete in seven different sporting events, such as swimming, athletics and table tennis. Singapore has participated in the Special Olympic Games since 1983.

The Special Olympics, which takes place once in four years, is where individuals with intellectual disabilities such as Down Syndrome and Global Development Disorder get the chance to compete in the 30 Olympic-type sports.

The major event does not exclude any athlete based upon qualifying scores, but rather divisions the athletes based on those scores for fair competition against others of similar ability. This year, athletes aged 8 to 71 will compete in sports such as football, basketball, athletics and even roller-skating!

Local sprinter Michelle Yogeswari will be competing in the Games for the first time, and is hoping to secure a medal finish after missing out 2014’s ASEAN Para Games.

Said Yogeswari,

“I felt very scared when I went to Myanmar for my first competition, I felt like I won’t make it and I felt very down at the time. But after I went for my first try, I was confident in myself and for my second try, I did my best and I came in fourth.”

For others like swimmer Merissa Chua, participating in the Special Olympics is a chance to help build their social confidence. Said her father, William Chua,

“Merissa is a naturally very quiet and shy child. But after going through all these team bonding events and camps that the Special Olympics organized, she’s opened up and is more sociable.”

Go Team Singapore!

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)