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Loretta Claiborne, Special Olympics athlete and international Board Member (seated, far right), was among the honored guests at the 2007 U.S. Open's tribute to Althea Gibson. |
Special Olympics athlete and international Board Member Loretta Claiborne was one of the distinguished guests courtside during the 2007 U.S. Open’s tribute to Althea Gibson, one of the greatest singles champions in the history of the U.S. Championships/U.S. Open.
The 2007 U.S. Open celebrated the 50th anniversary of Althea Gibson's historic title victory at the U.S. National Championships in 1957 with an Opening Night celebration themed, "Breaking Barriers." As part of the on-court ceremonies on Opening Night in New York (USA), Gibson was inducted into the U.S. Open Court of Champions.
In recognition of Gibson’s accomplishments, the USTA invited African American women who achieved a “first” in their respective disciplines to participate in an on-court ceremony on Opening Night. The world of sports, entertainment, politics and the arts were represented.
Loretta Claiborne was among these notable women as the first to win the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage (ESPY) in 1996 . “If I could take this award and break it up into a million pieces,” Claiborne said in her acceptance speech, “I would like to do that and split it with every Special Olympics athlete.”
Claiborne is one of the most accomplished and celebrated of all Special Olympics athletes. Claiborne has competed in more than 26 marathons, finishing with the fastest 25 women runners in the Pittsburgh Marathon and twice with the top-100 women runners in the Boston Marathon. She won gold medals in the 1991 and 1999 Special Olympics World Games half-marathon, and also excelled in other sports. Outside of Special Olympics, Claiborne holds a fourth-degree black belt in karate, served as a Special Olympics Board Member, communicates in four languages, including sign language, and holds an honorary doctorate degree from Quinnipiac University and Villanova University, the first person with an intellectual disability known have been conferred with such academic recognitions.
Claiborne's life was the basis for a Wonderful World of Disney docu-drama film called The Loretta Claiborne Story. The movie tells the story of her life, being born with an intellectual disability as well as physical challenges, and of her overcoming enormous odds to become an accomplished athlete and spokesperson. The movie has aired numerous times in the United States, has been shown in many countries around the world and is a teaching tool in the Special Olympics Get Into It! K-12 service learning curriculum. |
