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"My Aunt Eunice, the founder of Special Olympics, would be so proud to see all of you here today, ready to compete, skilled, and eager to win, because she was a competitor herself."
The Kadena Special Olympics is not as old as Eunice Shriver's Special Olympics but it is just as important. The KSO was The KADENA, Japan - Special Olympics is the world's largest sporting competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. It is a tradition that started in the early 60's to bring focus on what people CAN do and it all began with one woman's dream.established in 1999 by the 18th Wing Commander, General Smith.
It is a single sporting day that not only brings two communities together but more importantly, highlights and celebrates those with special needs. This year's annual event brings together two athletes from two different backgrounds.
This is Yoshie Nakamura. For this year's KSO she's retiring her broom from her part-time job cleaning and swapping it for a ground golf club. Nakamura-san loves the challenge the KSO brings but says there are other advantages to competing in the Kadena Special Olympics.
- (in Japanese)
"So you competed for three years now, what are you expecting this year?"
"The good looking..."
"What?"
"How good looking, the foreigners are."
Yoshie Nakamura also competes in the long jump and this is her fourth year competing at the KSO.
Meet Ty Murdock, loved son of Gordon and Terumi Murdock. He is an avid guitar player, singer, athlete, and self designated coach. During school Ty has worked multiple jobs to include washing towels at the Risner Gym and working in the Kadena High School cafeteria. Out of all of the activities Ty is involved in there is one activity he loves best.
"Go running!"
Yes, that's right, Ty is a runner and is running the 30 meter dash, to be exact. This is his 12th year competing in the Special Olympics.
The Kadena Special Olympics is not 46 years old. It does not have 4.4 million athletes. But in the end, if you take a look at the faces of the people involved, you will see the KSO is here to stay.
| Date Taken: | 11.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.12.2014 02:15 |
| Story ID: | 147584 |
| Location: | JP |
| Hometown: | CLOUDCROFT, NM, US |
| Web Views: | 288 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Kadena Special Olympic athletes compete in 2014 games., by SSgt Estrella Martinez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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