From Sports Illustrated:

On the 40th anniversary of the Special Olympics, Sports Illustrated presents its first Sportsman of the Year Legacy Award to Eunice Kennedy Shriver. The award recognizes lifetime achievement.

In an accompanying editor’s letter, senior editor Greg Kelly calls Mrs. Shriver “a modern-day Jackie Robinson … Like Jackie, she has used sports to change the world.”

Since its first gathering of 1,000 athletes in Chicago in 1968, Special Olympics has grown to include three million athletes in 181 countries. Thanks to Mrs. Shriver’s leadership, the magazine says, people around the world have come to recognize …

… the capabilities of the sort of individuals who were once locked away in institutions. Schooling, medical treatment and athletic training have all changed for people with intellectual disabilities as a result of Shriver’s vision; more important, so have attitudes and laws.

… to say that the lot of people with intellectual disabilities has improved because of Special Olympics would be a gross understatement. Shriver’s movement did nothing less than release an entire population from a prison of ignorance and misunderstanding. It did something else, too – create a cathartic covenant between competitor and fan that is unlike anything else in sport. You watch and what you see is nothing less than a transformation, the passage of someone who has been labeled unfortunate, handicapped, disabled or challenged to something else: athlete.

The magazine also honored Olympic multi-medalist Michael Phelps as its Sportsman of the Year. Phelps was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the sixth grade.

Sidebars:

• An athlete’s tale: Loretta Claiborne found an outlet in running and a voice speaking out for Special Olympics
• Watching in wonder: No one sees the impact of Special Olympics quite the way the athletes’ parents do
• Unusual direction: The Farrelly Brothers used their trademark humor for a unique look at Special Olympics

(Special Olympics photo of Eunice Kennedy Shriver with Special Olympics athletes in South Africa in 2002; Michael Phelps in Sports Illustrated cover photo)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 1:59 pm and is filed under advocacy, celebrities, exercise/sports, NOT2BEMISSED. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.