Pessoal desculpem-me pelo envio da mensagem em ingles, mas o assunto eh
interessante... a discussão entre o Daniel e a Kim.
Alguma alma caridosa pode traduzi-lo?
Flavia Faissal de Souza <flaviafs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Campinas- Sao Paulo- BR
Administradora da lista de Atividade Motora Adaptada <cevama-L>
<http://www.cev.org.br/listas>
>Kim wrote that "calling Special Olympics participants athletes is like
>calling my dog a doctor". I found this statement quite remarkable, and
>evidence of an astounding misunderstanding of the athletes of the Special
>Olympics.
>The statement is attributed to the International Olympic Committee, that
>the Special Olympics are "distinctly different and profoundly opposite" to
>real sport for the disabled.. When asked for a citation to the source of
>this comment, the USOC website Paralympic page was referenced, not the IOC,
with no author or source beyond those who maintain the page. The full
quote below from the usoc.org website
>
>Special Note: The Paralympic Games are not the Special Olympics!
>
>"The Paralympics is truly a competition of elite, world class, well
>trained, disabled athletes as opposed to a participatory event where all
who enter receive a medal for involvement. The term "Paralympic" actually
means "next to" or "parallel" to the regular Olympics. The only difference
in the two
is that the Paralympics provide elite competition opportunity to athletes
>with a functional physical disability which precludes their involvement in
>open competition of the regular Olympics. Thus, the difference between the
>Paralympics and the Special Olympics is distinct and profoundly opposite."
>
>In fact the official stance of the USOC and IOC has not been antagonistic
>towards the Special Olympics movement. In 1971 the USOC gave permission for
Special Olympics International to be the only organization other than the
USOC to use the word Olympic to describe their organization and events. In
1988 the IOC endorsed this agreement.
>
>Briefly, I checked my files and found a Special Olympics weightlifter, Andy
>Leonard, who weighs 110 pounds and deadlifts 402 pounds. (Sports
>Illustrated, Nov. 11, 1991), a female marathoner, Loretta Claiborne, who
>has accomplished the distance in 3:02, (USA Today,July 31, 1987) and Eric
>Tosada, who ran 3,000 meters in 9:38 at the 1987 Special Olympic World
>Games, at the time a Special Olympics world record. (Time, August 17, 1987)
> Not a single one of these performances could have been accomplished
>without training. This is the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of thousands of
>Special Olympics athletes train long hours in order to qualify and compete
>in their games. Kim, your puppy has just been accepted to medical school!
>
>The Special Olympics specifically does not keep medals tables on a national
>basis, they do award gold, silver and bronze medals to the winners in each
>event, with participant medals to everyone, a fairly common practice in
>international games. (see the May 21, 1999 press release regarding medals
>at www.99games.com the official site for the 1999 Special Olympics World
>Games in Raleigh, North Carolina)
>
>This years medals are imprinted with the theme "It's all about attitude", a
>very applicable sentiment in the context of Kim's remarks. The Special
>Olympics movement (of which I am simply an interested observer, just as I
>am in the Paralympics) has since 1968 helped millions of athletes with
>mental retardation with a range of focus from the elite athletes who run
>full marathons down to those who can barely walk at first, but through
>training learn to run a 50 yard dash.
>
>Most of us were taught at a young age, the way to get ahead is not by
>putting others down. This applies well here. Yes, there are millions of
>Americans who confuse the Paralympics and Special Olympics movements with
one another, simply because the general American public is only vaguely
>familiar with international or disabled sport in any capacity. But a gentle
>response and explanation would probably suffice, not anger and insults. It
>does no good for individuals in the Paralympic movement to put down the
>athletes in the Special Olympics, where do-gooders and volunteers are most
>welcome in all fifty states and over 125 countries.
>
>Daniel Bell
>
>> Combining elite athletes with disabilities and the special olympics is a
>> faux pas in serious disabled sport.
>>
>> calling special olympics participants athletes is like calling my dog a
>> doctor.
>>
>> The International Olympic Committee calls the special olympics
"distinctly different and profoundly opposite" to real sport for disabled
and I, for one, am not in the least bit interested in working with any
programs for
special olympics.
>> I would, however, be interested in helping out for real disabled
>athletes.
>>
>> Kimberley Barreda
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