Santos Antonio

Santos Antonio is an athlete from Special Olympics Namibia in the Africa Region who has been with Special Olympics since 2013. Santos participates in basketball and athletics.

Santos has several favorite parts about Special Olympics including being an advocate for people with intellectual disabilities through awareness campaigns. He also likes youth leadership activities such as hosting meetings and enjoys being a moderator (MC) of Special Olympics events.

Santos is excited for the Congress in Berlin. He is going to meet and know other athlete leaders from all over the world and will receive knowledge and skills that he can demonstrate to his fellow athletes in Namibia. Santos is also looking forward to getting involved in cultural diversity from various programs and regions.

Santos is employed as an Office Assistant at the Special Olympics office in Namibia. When Santos isn’t working or competing, he enjoys reading books and following social media to gain more skills about different life aspects. Santos also enjoys jogging for fitness.

Santos says that being an Athlete Leader means that an athlete with intellectual disabilities has an ability to influence, empower and advocate for other people with intellectual disabilities by showing courage and setting a good example.

Santos’ project plans to increase the number of Athlete Leaders trained in leadership and skills. This will be done by allowing non-vocal Athlete Leaders to get skills through training and decisive approaches toward public speaking. Athletes will be free to express themselves and create awareness without fear of being discriminated or labelled. Through training, Athlete Leaders will gain confidence and be able to communicate effectively. Santos’s project will also focus on Unified Leadership, whereby people with and without Intellectual Disabilities will work hand in hand for a meaningful leadership.