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Bruna Santana, 22, will compete in athletics. Alexandre Silva, 26, in 3×3 basketball. Ana Paula Santos, 53, bocce. Carolina Silva, 24, in rhythmic gymnastics.
These are some of rostered brazilian athletes To the Special Olympics World Gameswhich begin this Saturday (17), in Berlin.
The games will bring together 7,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities, from 190 delegations, competing in 26 sports. The Brazilian delegation has 36 members, 26 of whom are athletes who will compete in 3×3 basketball, athletics, bowls, swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, tennis and table tennis.
Thomas Goman, president of the Special Olympics Brazil, explains that Brazil has participated in the competition since the 1980s and that the event mobilizes around 40,000 athletes in Brazil, spread across ten states, who participate in local sporting events throughout the year.
Participating frequently in these events, in fact, is what guarantees the athlete the chance to participate in the draw that will select the Brazilian delegation — which is chosen not for the performance itself, but for engagement in activities and the draw.
“The draw is essential, or we would have non-inclusive competitions”, says Goman, who estimates that more than 2,000 athletes competed for places in the last draw.
In Berlin, athletes compete in groups of people with similar abilities. “No one is competing with someone who can do it a lot faster. Everyone who qualified with that draw is there to compete with athletes of the same ability.”
In addition to the world games every two years (summer and winter), the initiative mobilizes, in Brazil, almost 600 schools in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco, with training of the school team for inclusion through sport , with unified games that feature people with and without intellectual disabilities.
“From there, our disabled athletes begin to have more confidence and we expand to leadership activities, where, together with their non-disabled partners, they begin to study a project inside the school and organize meetings outside the school”, says Goman.
The Berlin games run until the 25th of June.
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