Special Olympics Algeria Yacine Nacef, 15, is serious about the sport of floor hockey and very focused — on the puck, that is. As the team's goalkeeper, he can't afford to be distracted. Competing in Japan is better than he ever imagined. His experience began four days before competition when the team spent time in their host town of Oizumi where they got a crash course in Japanese culture, and it was apparently a feast for his senses. "I've never traveled outside of Algiers [his hometown] so I was impressed with the beautiful country." Was he dubious about the food? "It was delicious, I ate everything they put in front of me," he said. His favorite part was touring a Subaru factory. "The assembly line was awesome. Subaru is a very popular car in Algeria. It was the first time I got to see how they were made."
Back home he lives in a two-room house: one room for him, his parents and three brothers and a sister, and the other for extended family of aunts and uncles.
What was the biggest difference between Algerian and Japanese athletes? "There's no difference. We are all friends," he said.
Special Olympics Japan Introduced to the sport of floor hockey three years ago, Japanese hometown hero Tomoya Takue, 18, is the captain of one of Japan's 2003 World Winter Games floor hockey teams. That he competes in Winter Games at all is amazing since he hails from Okinawa, in the southern part of Japan where the temperature was 72º F (22º C) when he left. "I had a serious case of weather shock," he said.
Takue, who will graduate from high school in March, already has a job lined up and is thrilled about making the adult transition. "I'm usually a follower, but Special Olympics has helped me become a leader," he said. "As team captain, I can't spend time being discouraged if we lose. It's important for me to encourage everyone. I like being a mentor for my teammates."
Special Olympics Venezuela It's hard to imagine that Special Olympics Venezuela athlete Miguel Quiros, 31, from Caracus competes in anything other than summer sports since Venezuela has such a tropical climate. But he likes a challenge. When head coach Maria Alejandra Pellicer volunteered to coach snowshoeing, Quiros, a marathon runner, jumped at the chance. Both sports require serious aerobic training and it was a good way to stay fit all year, plus expand his competition opportunities. But there's no snow in Venezuela, so how could athletes train? Coach Pellicer devised an ingenious training regimen for her three-member 2005 World Games team: three days a week they practiced on grass and two days on sand. So is there a difference between grass, sand and snow? Quiros, who competed on snow for the first time in Japan, said, "It's much easier on snow. The heavy clothing weighs me down a bit, but I'm strong."
Pellicer is quite versed in winter sports and is a snowshoer and cross country skier herself. Each December, for the past 25 years, Pellicer and her entire family visit New York (USA) and hit the slopes. Pellicer fell in love with snowshoeing and cross country skiing. With all that experience, she couldn't resist coaching the sport when Special Olympics Venezuela wanted to expand their Program to include winter sports.
Quiros, a former Special Olympics international Global Messenger, looks muscular and fit, but he says that wasn't always true. "Before I joined Special Olympics six years ago, I was fat." He said with running and healthy eating he lost a lot of weight.
The team was enchanted by their host town of Moshisuki, where they took part in a rice festival and got an inadvertent workout. The athletes took turns smashing hot cooked rice, placed outside in a large wooden bowl carved out of a tree trunk, with huge mallets they swung like axes. Later the rice was used to prepare a delicious sweet dessert, which the delegation loved.
What's next for Quiros? He and his girlfriend, Mallisa want to get married. "It's a huge responsibility," he said. "But, I'm confident I'm ready for it."
Special Olympics Croatia Zeljko "Tima" Gasparovic, 40, was born in Ogulin and now lives in Jaskovo near Karlovac, Croatia. Zeljko has participated in three Special Olympics World Summer Games and three World Winter Games. He likes sports very much, but athletics and cross country skiing are his favorites. Ogulin, where he was born, has very harsh winters where temperatures easily drop below freezing. Janica Kostelic Franjko, who trains the Croatian National Ski Team, also prepared Gasparovic for Nagano. Gasparovic likes gardening and nature. He is a huge fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger and hopes to meet him someday. Gasparovic and his World Games team were guests of the Croatian Ski Federation at the World Woman's Competition (FIS) held on Mt. Sljeme in Croatia in January 2005; Gasparovic had the opportunity to meet the four Olympic medal winners.
Special Olympics Finland Paula Ahonkivi, 48, (right) and Hannu Salminen, 48, (below) have much more in common than just their age. They live as a couple in an apartment in Pori on the southwest coast of Finland.  They both started competitive cross country skiing in the early 1970s and competed in the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Toronto, Canada, in 1997; Salminen competed in the Nagano Paralympic Games in 1998. The couple work in a center for individuals with intellectual disabilities. They like to go to the gym together. Salminen roller skates and rows while Ahonkivi likes to knit socks for him.
Special Olympics NorwayInger Edvardsen, 33, competes in cross country skiing as a member of the team representing Special Olympics Norway. Edvardsen lives in the town of Bodø, which is located on the coast just north of the Arctic Circle.  She has lived in this town all her life, and now lives in her own apartment. Every day she works in a workshop called Mathilda. In addition to skiing, she enjoys swimming. Like most people in Norway, Edvardsen has been skiing since she was a little girl. Now she trains once a week with her coaches Alan Hurchinson and Astrid Håvik, and the other skiers at the Innstranden Sports Club. Despite living close to the Arctic Circle, the warm water and winds of the North Atlantic Ocean create mild winters along the coastline. This means that snow conditions in Bodø vary a lot, and often Edvardsen has to travel inland to find good ski conditions. The short days during winter in the north also create challenges. When Edvardsen finishes work in the afternoon, it is already dark. In Norway this is solved by lighted ski tracks, where Edvardsen skis once a week during the long dark winter season.
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