Africa-Press – Uganda. The selection process of Special Olympics athletes has begun in earnest ahead of the Summer World Games in Berlin, Germany, in June 2023.
Uganda has been allotted 32 places in the multi-sport event exclusive for athletes with intellectual disabilities.Genevieve Bamwidhukire, Special Olympics Uganda executive director, said the selection process begins with awareness visits to schools that are expected to field athletes in inter-school competitions before fielding teams for district games at the national level.
Bamwidhukire said the national games will have to be completed before June 2022 to determine the qualifiers.“With the coronavirus pandemic, it has been pretty hard to mobilise athletes,” she said, adding that the major challenge with athletes that have intellectual disabilities is being neglected by guardians and parents.
Genevieve Bamwidhukire.
Uganda’s place
Uganda has been allocated three places in athletics, two for men, but Bamwidhukire said this weakens the team.Apart from athletics, Uganda will field a team in traditional seven-a-side football, swimming, table tennis, unified and mixed volleyball. But not wet suit open water swimming.
Bamwidhukire said they will lobby for more places, especially in athletics.“Previously, we have fielded strong teams in athletics and we are still engaging the organisers to allocate us more places,” she said.
Uganda took 35 athletes to the Abu Dhabi Games in 2019 where it bagged four gold medals courtesy of swimmer Larry Feni and two from sprinter Jacent Nyamahunge. Open water swimmer Rogger Agenrwoth scooped the other.
The athletes are grouped by age, gender and ability. But there are no world records to allow equal ability.
What is Special Olympics?
Founded in 1968, the major reason for holding Special Olympics is to drive inclusion in sport by breaking barriers faced by people with disabilities to leading full and equal lives, challenges in employment opportunities, and unequal access to healthcare and education.
