Special Olympics deeply rooted in Canadian soil

OSHAWA -- Special Olympics has strong roots in Canada.

And those roots have now spread throughout the globe, benefitting some 2.5-million people with intellectual disabilities in more than 180 countries.

This all thanks to such people as Dr. Frank Hayden of London, Ontario and Harry 'Red' Foster of Toronto.

It was Dr. Hayden who conceived the idea of games for people with mental handicaps, born out of his research that showed the benefits of such.

In the early-1960s, testing of children with mental handicaps showed they were only half as physically fit as their non-challenged peers. Dr. Hayden, a researcher and professor in Toronto at the time, questioned the assumption that their low fitness levels were a direct result of mental retardation.

Working with a control group of children on an intense fitness program, he showed that mentally challenged people could indeed become physically fit and participate in sports given the opportunity.

Encouraged by this, Dr. Hayden looked for ways to develop a national sports program for mentally challenged people. He eventually did so, albeit in the United States after his work came to the attention of the Kennedy Foundation in Washington and led to the creation of the Special Olympics.

The first sports competitions held under that banner was in Chicago in 1968, when 1,000 athletes from 26 states, along with Canada and France gathered for track and field, floor hockey and aquatics at Soldier's Field.

The fact that Canada was represented was due to the relationship between Dr. Hayden and 'Red' Foster. Not wanting to see Canada left out of this historic occasion, Dr. Hayden called on his old friend to see if he was interested in taking part.

Indeed, he was.

A well-known broadcaster, sportsman, businessman and humanitarian, Foster devoted much of his life to helping people with mental handicaps, in part because his brother was both blind and mentally challenged.

Foster led a floor hockey team from Toronto to the first Games in Chicago and was inspired further by what he saw. When he returned to Canada, he began the process of bringing Special Olympics north of the border as well.

It took only a year for the first Canadian Special Olympics event to become a reality, as an event was held in Toronto in the summer of 1969.

From there, it mushroomed across the country and grew into the national sports organization it is today, with chapters in all the provinces and territories.

Special Olympics Ontario was incorporated in 1980 and now offers programs for 16 sports in more than 200 communities.

The Ontario Spring Games coming to Durham at the end of this month will involve five of the sports: swimming, 5-pin bowling, 10-pin bowling, powerlifting and basketball.

Athletes can aspire to even higher levels as there are also national and international competitions for both winter (alpine skiing, curling, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, speedskating and figure skating) and summer (soccer, softball, gymnastics and track and field) sports.

The 2008 Special Olympics National Winter Games were held in Quebec this year, while the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games will be held in Boise, Idaho in February.

The message through it all is clear, and can perhaps best be summed up by the Special Olympics athletes' oath, an adaptation of the words spoken by Olympic founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

"Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

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This information was gleaned through websites, in particular the London chapter of the Ontario Special Olympics.