Despite war
In spite of the war in Iraq, the 2003 World Summer Games for mentally handicapped athletes is on, reports Abeer Anwar
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Timothy Shriver, SO president and CEO, left, and Ayman Abdel-Wahab, SO MENA managing director, right, joining athletes as they celebrate at the MENA Games in September last year in Lebanon
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Unlike many championships cancelled following the start of war in Iraq, the 2003 World Summer Games for the mentally disabled, slated for Ireland in June, will take place as scheduled.
"As usual, we in the region are always suffering from a number of challenges, especially war and its effects," Ayman Abdel-Wahab, Special Olympics Middle East and North Africa (MENA) managing director, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
"I think that the war will not affect our programme. We have all the money needed to prepare for the delegations to the Games. All 20 regional programmes are going ahead with their plans and all, even Iraq, will take part in the tournament," Abdel-Wahab said.
Abdel-Wahab added it was very difficult to cancel the event and "shatter the dreams of the mentally handicapped to take part in something that takes place only once every two years.
"We had similar problems with Special Olympics Palestine but we gave them all what they needed and they are now going to the Games with a 14-member delegation," Abdel- Wahab said.
The MENA region is taking part in the Games with a total of 491 individuals: 349 athletes, 108 coaches and 34 officials in 15 sports.
Mohamed Nasser, Special Olympics sports and training manager, said that all teams were going ahead with their preparations. "Even Iraq is participating with eight athletes. A day before the war began they were training on a daily basis and they have assured us that they will take part in the Games."
Nasser described Iraqis as being "full of determination. They are following their sports calendar in spite of war, bullets, rockets and fire. Their football league matches are being played on a regular basis."
Nasser added that Special Olympics MENA is willing to provide Iraqi athletes with whatever they need "but it is becoming very difficult at the moment to get in contact with them".
In its challenging journey to reach 110,000 athletes by the end of 2005, the regional office of Special Olympics MENA has applied a new organisational structure to meet the diversified developmental needs of the Olympics MENA programmes. The MENA region is now divided into two sub- regions: the Middle East, including 13 countries, and North Africa, which includes seven countries.
"This plan was made to help ensure that each programme is receiving the adequate support from dedicated MENA staff who help the national programmes achieve their goals," Abdel-Wahab said.
In the 2002 census, the number of MENA athletes increased from 20,000 to 35,000.
To further streamline the process, Ali Herzallah, president of the Arab Handicapped Federation, was appointed as MENA Games and competitions manager.
In its developmental plan, MENA organised a number of training seminars, one of which was dedicated to Special Olympics programmes and sports managers. It also dealt with the PDS system that helps monitor the number of athletes and their increase in the various programmes. The first ever MENA communications fund-raising and initiative training seminar was also held on media relations and ways of building public awareness.
In another appointment, Mohamed El-Shafei has been selected to serve as Special Olympics (SO) MENA head coach.
Soccer is one of the main sports that SO MENA focusses on, its development currently going through a five-year plan (2001-2005). El-Shafei has started working closely with regional sports and training managers on the means of developing and spreading soccer as a priority sport in all 20 Special Olympics MENA programmes.
In his development plan, El-Shafei began by holding a head coaches training seminar held in Syria with the participation of 18 coaches from 17 Special Olympics programmes. "We want to develop a number of coaches who are capable of educating their fellow coaches, thus creating a team of professional soccer coaches all over the region," El-Shafei said.
"Each programme is required to prepare 30 coaches who can hold training camps for soccer in centres and schools. Each will form a team in different age categories."
"Special Olympics MENA philosophy is based on increasing the number of athletes parallel to increasing the number of coaches who can provide training for the increasing number of athletes," Abdel-Wahab said.
Sheikha Sheikha Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, nephew of Sheikh Gaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, the emir of Kuwait, recently gave her support to Special Olympics Kuwait by accepting the title of honourary chairwoman of Special Olympics Kuwait.
