On March 7^th, the Special Olympics Australian team will leave Australia with all the other team Australia members to compete in the Special Olympics World Summer Games.

The Special Olympics World Summer Games will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 8-21 March 2019, with 7,500 athletes with an intellectual disability from 170 nations competing across 24 sports in front of half a million spectators. Sailing will be from 16-20^th. The World Games, held every four years, will be the biggest sporting event in the world during 2019. 

Back in the 1960s, John Kennedy’s sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver saw how unjustly and unfairly people with intellectual disabilities were treated. She decided to take action. In the years that followed, the Special Olympics was born.

Since making state team selections at the Australian Special Olympics Australia in Adelaide during April 2018, the Australian team was selected to attend the World Games.

Catherine Keir from Sailability ACT, Alyse Saxby from Sailability Crystal Bay (Sydney), Belinda Hill  and Jacob Williams from Southport Yacht Club, Chelseann Osborne from Townville Sailing Club have been training hard and getting very excited for the upcoming event. Some have had to jump from Hansa class to Laser Bahia’s which has presented many challengers in a short period.

Reagan Minchin joined the team from the Canberra Yacht Club and is a Unified Partner for Catherine as crew in level 1. Alyse and Jacob will be sailing level 3 which include an on-board coach for tactics and balance only. Belinda and Chelseann will sail Level 5 (solo) and will be in Laser Radials.  

In 2018, 16-year-old Chelseann Osborne from Townsville beat an experienced field to win Australian Sailing’s Sailor of the Year with a Disability. Osborne has been sailing for the past eight years and last April won gold and silver at the Special Olympics Australia National Games in Adelaide.

Team members have strong roots in the local and national sailing communities, belonging to one of the 70+ Sailability programs, or the Hansa Class Association, or both.

For two of the sailors, this is their first international trip and they will be representing Team Australia for the first time. The other three have represented Australia before in various World Games events in LA. Shanghai, Athens and Ireland. Head Coach Sailing - Team Australia is Gold Coast-based Greg Williams.  More information on Team Australia  www.specialolympics.org.au .

This is the first time the event will be held in the Middle East or North Africa since the movement’s founding over 50 years ago. Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Court led the winning bid efforts with a mission to promote positive social change for people with intellectual disabilities and create a more inclusive society and also declared 2019 as the Year of Tolerance.

If you want to find out more, follow the Team’s progress or send messages, or check out the Australian website www.abudhabi2019.org

Words: Greg Williams, Head Coach Sailing - Team Australia 2019, Special Olympics World Games