No, I’m not talking about friends and relatives of the participants, trainers, those working for social service agencies, and the like. I’m curious about whether anyone attends Special Olympics competitions in the same way they attend any other sporting event or the “regular” Olympics: they’re fans, and there just to watch the sport being played.
no, there are not.
next question?
Bumping to see if there’s any other answers.
If there are fans, there’s gambling. Anybody in Vegas want to call one of the larger sports betting houses?
Do people who grew up watching a relative compete, but who continue to attend after said relative ends his participation count? I would imagine there are a couple of folks like that.
When I read your post, I thought you meant the Paralympics, but on Wiki I found that independently from the Paralympics (for athletes with physical disabilities), there are Special Olympics meant for athletes with mental disabilities. You learn something new every day, although I’d like to add that the Special Olympics seem to be a predominantly American event - out of the thirteen games held so far, ten were held in the U.S.
But then again, what makes you think there are no fans interested in watching the games? the number of spectators is probably smaller than with the Olympics, but it seems to be far-fetched to assume there are no spectators at all.
There’s spectators for sure, but I’m assuming that all of them are relatives of the participants, those working for social service agencies that deal with the retarded, and so on. I’m wondering if random people without any connection to the athletes or those providing services or advocacy for the developmentally disabled go to the Special Olympics just to watch the athletic competition, in the same way that spectators attend regular Olympic events.
So if I made it a point to go next time they’re in town, then we could conclusively say that there are people that go without any connection. Or is there a connection that’s been established by following this thread? Probably better if I just don’t go.
I can’t answer about the motives of the attendees, but I can give you some figures.
From a NC newspaper about the 1999 games.
. I can’t vouch for the numbers, but it would seem that somebody goes.
Now I wonder how many people don’t know what the Special Olympics is, and go because they think it’s a special exhibition of the Olympics or something.
Even if they all know what it is, I don’t know if I’d call them fans. I’d bet that the vast majority are just spectators. I’d go watch plenty of things just for the hell of it.
They have it near here at UCLA early each summer, or were for a time. They would have the track and field events in Drake Stadium, which isn’t really a complete stadium but a standard quarter mile oval and infield with stadium seating on just one side. They manage to fill all or most of the seats, although I am sure they were almost all occupied by friends, organizers, and families. They put on a pretty good show; I was on campus once during the closing ceremonies, and they had a parachutist drop from a plane. The crowd was very excited by this, and the intensity of the cheering was like nothing I have heard. I tend to think the majority of the crowd was probably also developmentally disabled, and that they were truly enjoying this moment, this celebration of what is possible rather than the limits they live with every day of their lives. It seemed that here they could just let it out and enjoy the moment in a way that I don’t think they normally get to do. I was happy for them.
(If I’ve offended anybody with my surmises I’m really sorry. I know next to nothing about the field and I don’t know any DD people. I could be completely wrong and I know it.)
I would definitely attend the Paralympics if the opportunity presented it’s self, to see Wheelchair Rugby live. Check out the film Murderball to learn about this insanely intense sport played by paraplegics in chairs equipped for tank warfare.