GANGWON-DO < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

The 10th Special Olympics World Winter Games kicked off here in PyeongChang on Tuesday with an opening ceremony celebrating the hopes and dreams of the intellectually disabled.

PyeongChang, an alpine town some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, will host the international event for athletes with intellectual disabilities until Feb. 5. About 3,000 athletes from 106 countries will participate in seven sports, such as snowboarding, alpine skiing and figure skating, and one demonstration sport, floorball.

Organizers said Belarus, Comoros, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan and Sudan have withdrawn from the World Winter Games.

Greece, home of the modern Olympics, was the first country to parade into Yongpyong Dome. The rest of the countries followed in alphabetical order.

Andorra and the Dominican Republic had the smallest delegations, with each represented by one athlete and two officials.

South Korea, which entered the ceremony last as the host country, had the largest delegation with 247 athletes and officials.

  

After the raising of the South Korean national flag, 'Taegeukgi,' Park Mo-se, a South Korean singer with intellectual disabilities, performed the national anthem, 'Aegukga.'

Na Kyung-won, head of the World Winter Games organizing committee, said she hoped PyeongChang's event this week will change the lives of those with intellectual disabilities.

"I hope that the intellectually disabled persons could become more confident through this PyeongChang Special Olympics event," said the former lawmaker, who has a child with Down Syndrome. "I sincerely hope that the rights and dignity of the intellectually disabled could be known throughout the world once again. Let the international community work and cooperate together to create a happy world where everyone could become united, hand in hand, in order for the disabled persons to live confidently as equal members of this society."

Special Olympics International Chairman Timothy Shriver urged the participants with his remarks to show the world that they can be more than just athletes.

"Be role models for the whole world. Teach the whole world that kindness and gentleness are great," Shriver said. "Teach the whole world that the intense longing of competition is all about being the best you can be. Teach the whole world that together, we can do anything."

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak then declared the opening of the World Winter Games. Among international leaders in attendance were Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's opposition leader and former Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Joyce Banda, the first female president of Malawi.

Suu Kyi said at the ceremony that the Special Olympics will celebrate "the supremacy of the human spirit over everything else."

"The disabled ones are not those who are suffering, but those who do not care for the suffering," she said. "I'd like my country to be able to contribute towards something that will change the world into a better place. I want to give my people an opportunity to prove that they can give to the world."

Hwang Suk-il, a South Korean snowboarder, lit the Special Olympics cauldron at the ceremony. The 24-year-old is competing in his third World Games, after taking part in snowboarding at the 2009 winter games in Idaho, United States, and swimming at the 2011 summer games in Athens, Greece.

When he's not snowboarding, Hwang works as an inline skating instructor. Hwang once completed a 920-kilometer cross-country inline skating trip of South Korea in 2005.

The ceremony weaved the coming-of-age story of "Snowman," a symbolic character representing an intellectually disabled person who overcomes prejudices with the love of his family. Kam Kang-chan, a 17-year-old figure skater without intellectual disabilities, took center stage as the main character.

Snowman's birth is celebrated by his family and friends, and he begins to nurture dreams of living in a world without prejudice or discrimination against anyone. His dreams are almost dashed by the Cruel Sun, which epitomizes a world marked by hatred and stereotypes. Snowman, though, is soon reinvigorated by the love and support of his mother and from Snow Fairy and her friends.

  


The opening ceremony culminated with the performance titled "Dream Chorus," which brought together 3,200 people with and without intellectual disabilities. Lee Juck, a South Korean recording artist, joined them on stage to perform the official song of the World Winter Games, "Together, We Can."

Anyone over the age of eight with intellectual disabilities can participate in the Special Olympics. The top three finishers in each event are awarded medals, but all finalists also receive ribbons.

The athletes' oath in these competitions is "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

During the World Winter Games, PyeongChang will also host a series of non-sporting events. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's opposition leader, will be a keynote speaker at the Global Development Summit set for Wednesday. The summit's theme will be "Ending the Cycle of Poverty and Exclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities."

In the program titled Unified Sports Experience, star athletes without intellectual disabilities will try out World Winter Games events with Special Olympics athletes. Among South Korean athletes expected to participate are Lee Bong-joo, an Olympic marathon silver medalist, and Kim Dong-sung, an Olympic short track champion. From overseas, Michelle Kwan, a five-time world figure skating champion, and Yao Ming, an eight-time NBA All-Star, will team up with athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Throughout the World Winter Games, the Special Olympics Festival will feature music concerts and other art performances, including those by artists with intellectual disabilities.

The Special Olympics movement was founded by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a younger sister of the former U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Timothy Shriver, son of Eunice, is currently the chairman of Special Olympics International, the governing body of the Special Games.

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Jan. 29, 2013)