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On 23-25 August 2005, Special Olympics Afghanistan held its first national Games at Olympic Stadium in Kabul. More than 300 athletes, including 80 female athletes, experienced a taste of happiness and achievement for the first time in their lives. They competed in athletics, bocce and football (soccer). Because of cultural restrictions, males and females competed at separate venues.
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More than 300 athletes competed in the first Special Olympics Afghanistan National Games on 23-25 August 2005. |
Amid heavy security, 20 teams from three provinces, including Kabul, marched in the Parade of Athletes at Opening Ceremonies. Honored guests included U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann; Afghanistan National Olympic Committee Secretary General Ahmad Zia Musafari; and Afghanistan National Olympic Committee Vice President Sayed Mohmood Zia Dashti.
"Holding its first national Games was an extraordinary feat for Special Olympics Afghanistan," said Troy Griesen, Managing Director of Special Olympics Asia Pacific. "Life in Afghanistan can be grueling for even the heartiest souls. But if you are a person with an intellectual disability, add on another couple layers of misery — isolation and rejection. These Games — and Special Olympics in general — fill a void for people with intellectual disabilities in Afghanistan."
Since 2003, when five athletes competed in Special Olympics World Summer Games in Ireland and became the first Afghanistan athletes to compete in an international sporting event since 1996, Special Olympics has been reaching out to people with intellectual disabilities. There are no schools, government agencies, NGOs or charities that provide support to people with intellectual disabilities in Afghanistan. Special Olympics is the only organization in the entire country that offers hope, friendship, sports, and in many cases, meals and medical screenings.
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Special Olympics Asia Pacific Managing Director Troy Greisen (left) helps hand out awards at Olympic Stadium in Kabul, Afghanistan. |
At the national Games, in addition to sports, the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® program trained 20 Afghani medical professionals to conduct medical screenings, and for the majority of the athletes, it was the first time they had ever had a physical examination.
One of the Special Olympics Afghanistan athletes who competed in the country's first national Games also was one of the five athletes who competed in the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. Sardar is an orphan whose parents were killed in the war when he was three months old. When he was 10, he stepped on a land mine, losing his right leg and permanently damaging his left foot. Despite those challenges, at the 2003 World Games, Sardar won two gold medals in the 200-meter run and the 4x100-meter relay as well as a silver medal in the 100-meter run. During a Healthy Athletes screening at those World Games, doctors found he had an ill-fitting prosthesis, and with the help of local physicians, he was fitted with a new one.
Special Olympics has taught Sardar, now 15, how to fully use the skills he has, and if it wasn't for Special Olympics, he wouldn't have anything to do. "Special Olympics is all I have," he said.
Greisen summed up the impact of the first ever Special Olympics Afghanistan National Games: "While there are many challenges ahead for this country, its people with intellectual disabilities and our Program here, the 'Flame of Hope' has been lit, and will continue to burn brightly."
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