SPECIAL OLYMPICS OREGON ATHLETES HEAD TO GREECE

Oregon Athletes Join 315 Athletes and 125 Coaches From Special Olympics Team USA as They Journey to Greece for the Country’s Largest Sporting Event of the Year

After months of rigorous training and preparation, Special Olympics Oregon athletes are finally on their way to the most spectacular sporting event happening this year - Special Olympics World Summer Games ATHENS 2011. Special Olympics Team USA, comprising 315 athletes as well as 125 coaches, will unite from June 25 – July 4 with 7,000 athletes from nearly 180 nations to compete in these World Games. In addition, this vast event will draw more than 25,000 volunteers, 3,000 event officials and thousands of families, spectators and journalists from every continent.

Six athletes from all over Oregon will join 315 athletes from every state and the District of Columbia and 125 coaches and managers uniting to comprise Special Olympics Team USA. They will all come together in Baltimore, Maryland on June 18 before the entire team departs for Greece that weekend. These World Games will be the milestone event of a long-lasting movement, founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, to create a world of inclusion and acceptance. In Athens, the birthplace of modern sport, where the true values of competition were born, the talents and skills of Special Olympics athletes will remind us what the World Games are really about, where all participants are winners in their struggle for respect, inclusion and unity.

“Special Olympics World Summer Games are an amazing opportunity for these select athletes and coaches to experience first-hand the worldwide impact of our global movement. We are proud of the dedication, hard work and determination that each of them has displayed. They will do a wonderful job representing the United States, Oregon and their hometowns and will be an inspiration to many on and off the field of play during their time in Greece,” said Margaret Hunt, CEO of Special Olympics Oregon.

The Special Olympics Team USA athletes from Oregon include: Mason Coad, age 16, from Portland (aquatics) ; Christie Clark, 36, from Portland (track & field); Martin Fulcher, 37, from McMinnville (track & field); Mitchell Isham, 43, from McMinnville (bowling); Jillian Smalley, 20, from Hermiston (bowling); and Kevin Zwart, 21, from Salem (aquatics).

There will also be 6 coaches representing the state of Oregon at the 2011 Special Olympics World Games. Pat Church (golf), Paul Harvey (bowling) & Jake Mahon (aquatics) from Eugene, Jill Fummerton (aquatics) from Roseburg, Jill Olson (bocce) from Amity and Doug Trice (track and field) from LaGrande are all coaches from Special Olympics Oregon who will be traveling to Greece this summer.

Make sure to follow, read, see and hear what Oregon athletes and caoches are doing during the World Games at www.Facebook.com/SOORstate (Click on the World Games Photo Album.)