National Summer Games Huge Success
CHAT 21 | Issue 74, Autumn 2018
Special Olympics Chief Executive Kathy Gibson looks back at the Summer National Games. We were incredibly proud to bring our 9th National Summer Games to our capital city for the very first time. This event saw 1771 registered athletes and coaches from 43 clubs and 3 schools, 750 family and supporters and 500 volunteers come together over 6 days to take part in New Zealand's largest event for people with special capabilities. This event was 32 per cent larger than the 8th National Summer Games held in Dunedin four years ago. We placed particular emphasis on making sure that there were no quotas in any of the 11 sports offered across our 10 venues. This meant that every athlete who qualified to attend the National Summer Games in their chosen sport was able to do so. This epitomises what Special Olympics is all about. Our youngest athlete, competing in swimming, was aged 9 and our oldest two athletes, competing in Ten Pin Bowling and lndoor Bowls, were 72! It is part of our ethos to ensure that our athletes can compete in the best possible sports environments. The size and scale of this NationaI Summer Games meant that we needed to use a range of high quality
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