[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 129 (Tuesday, July 31, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S5504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST SPECIAL OLYMPICS GAMES

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I want to say a few words about a 
special anniversary. Earlier this month, we celebrated the 50th 
anniversary of the very first Special Olympic Games, which took place 
at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL.
  The Special Olympics didn't just give people a chance to compete; it 
gave them a chance to come out of the shadows. It is hard to imagine, 
but before the Special Olympics, people with intellectual disabilities 
were offered little education and oftentimes were left in isolation and 
despair. Thankfully, Eunice Shriver shared the compassion and vision to 
create these games, but I want to talk about someone whose role in the 
games creation is often overlooked: Illinois Supreme Court justice and 
my friend, Anne Burke.
  Before becoming a justice on Illinois' Supreme Court, Anne was a 
physical education teacher. She had an idea to create a summer jamboree 
where kids with special needs could compete in an athletic competition 
at Soldier Field, just like other children who attended day camps 
across the State of Illinois. So Anne took that idea to Washington, DC, 
and Eunice Shriver. What did Eunice Shriver say to Anne's proposal? 
Unacceptable. It was simply too small. Eunice decided it needed to be 
bigger. With Eunice's help, Anne returned home to Chicago, rewrote the 
proposal, and made it a national Olympic program. Eunice joined Anne in 
Chicago on July 20, 1968, and they celebrated the first Special Olympic 
Games.
  During those first games in 1968, Mayor Richard Daley told Eunice: 
``The world will never be the same after this.'' Eunice Shriver and 
Anne Burke knew it. Eunice boldly predicted that 1 million of the 
world's intellectually challenged would someday compete in these games. 
Well, she was wrong. Today, more than 5 million athletes train year-
round in all 50 States and 172 countries.
  Here are just a couple examples of how the world changed after that 
summer day in Chicago. In 2003, after the games were held in Dublin, 
Ireland rewrote its antidiscrimination laws. Across the Middle East, 
people who were once forced into the shadows now play soccer in the 
light of day. That is the legacy of the Special Olympics: inclusion.
  I will close with one more story from those first games at Soldier 
Field. After one athlete, Frank Olivo, finished competing, he said: 
``People always put me down. And said, I wouldn't amount to anything. 
And now they say, he does amount to something. He's special.'' That is 
what makes the Special Olympics so special.
  Congratulations to the Special Olympics for 50 years of making 
athletes like Frank understand that hearts beat the same.

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