Finally being like others
Published 9:14 am Monday, March 2, 2009
When Rosa Beckman walked into the auditorium in Boise, Idaho, to take in the opening ceremonies of the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games, she had only one thing to say: “Me! Me! Me!”
For once in the 33-year-old Albert Lea woman’s life, 20,000 of the people there were like her.
Rosa normally does not speak, said her sister, Robin Gudal, who took Rosa to Boise for the Special Olympics and to visit their sister, Anna Almerico. The games were held Feb. 7 to Feb. 13.
Gudal said it took two hours for 2,500 athletes from 102 nations to walk in.
“When the athletes from Colombia came in, Rosa hooted and hollered,”Gudal said, adding Rosa was adopted by her parents at age 9 from Colombia.
Gudal said Almerico e-mailed her nine months ago with a link to the Special Olympics Web site, urging her and Rosa to consider coming.
“Rosa works, so she paid to go,” Gudal said.
When Gudal’s husband asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said she wanted him to come along, too, so he did.
In addition to the opening ceremony, they attended figure skating and speed skating.
“Some events were an hour away,” Gudal said.
One thing that Gudal said impressed her the most was that when an athlete fell, the whole crowd hushed. When the athlete got up again, the crowed cheered. “It was really emotional,” she said.
There were celebrities there, including Kenny G, Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton.
“There was a band of all special needs people,” Gudal said. “They were so good.”
The atmosphere overall was very nice, she said. “People were so friendly.”
Rosa was able to see her niece and nephew as well. “She was overjoyed to be there,” Gudal said.
For Gudal, the highlight wasn’t so much in being there as it was taking it all in with Rosa.
“It’s a neat thing to experience as a sibling,” she said.
There were also blue-and-white scarves everywhere. Gudal said through a national magazine, knitters were asked to knit scarves for all the athletes. Instead of 2,500 scarves, there were 55,000, so the scarves were given away for a donation to those attending. There were stories, including one of a 93-year-old woman who knitted 106 scarves and died three weeks later.
“A lot of them came with tags, wishing the athletes well,” Gudal said. “So whose story are you wearing around your neck? It was really neat to see all those blue-and-white scarves. It was neat for awareness in the community.”
Special Olympics is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering individuals with intellectual disabilities to become physically fit, productive and respected members of society through sports training and competition.
The first International Special Olympics Games was held in 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago. However, the concept began to unfold six years earlier at a place called Camp Shriver, a day camp started by Eunice Kennedy Shriver focusing on physical activity for people with intellectual disabilities.
Today, Special Olympics serves more than 2.8 million people with intellectual disabilities in more than 180 countries worldwide.
While Rosa didn’t compete at the games, she has participated in Special Olympics over the years in bowling, swimming and track and field, her sister said.