Historically the Sports Unions for the Disabled were always strongly involved in the competition for the disabled. We will certainly not deny that the sports union for the disabled has the expertise of the treatment for the disabled. However, the sport expertise should lie within the responsibility of the sports unions. For now, there is a big discussion about the decision from the IPC to exclude all intellectual disabled athletes from paralympic events, till Beijing in 2008. The IPC started this policy in Barcelona and is powerful enough to exclude the biggest group of athletes with a disability for 16 years.
The bottle-neck in organizing an European Championship for the Disabled lies not in the fact that the athletes can’t cope with it, but the organizations are not ready for this. Fact is, in Italy, the Paralympic Committee in France, the INAS/FID, in Germany the DSB (Behinderten Sport Bund) and in the Netherlands the JBN are all organizing the National events with their own regulations. In Italy intellectual disabled are doomed to judo play, while in France, judo for this pear group is almost fully main stream judo. No adjust-ments are made for sutemi-waza and shime-waza. They are allowed in the rules. Clearly a big difference between opinion, philosophy and treatment of the judokas. Still I have seen the Italian ID-judokas in the Dutch compe-tition where they fit in perfectly.
Uniformity in regulation, classification, education and grading will be the key to lift the judo for the disabled from National up to European level.
The International Paralympic Committee
IPC proclaims to be one of the largest sport organizations in the world. Representing the majority of athletes with a disability, it has taken sport to a new and higher level, providing unique opportunities from a developmental to an elite sport level.
Traditionally there are athletes who belong to six different disability groups in the Paralympic Movement:
… amputee,
… cerebral palsy,
… visual impairment,
… spinal cord injuries,
… intellectual disability and
… a group which includes all those that do not fit into the afore mentioned groups.
Of course we all are aware of the IPC policy according to the intellectual disabled athletes.
“The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) wants to emphasize that it supports the participation of athletes with an intellectual disability and that the current decision is not a case of discrimination against a disability group, but rather the outcome of an investigation of whether an Interna- tional Federation (ie, INAS-FID) has the necessary processes in place to support elite competition.”
Weather this is a true statement is doubtful it seems very easy by following the IPC classification code ID (Intellectual Disabled) athletes can be easy located and screened.
“Classes are determined by a variety of processes that may include a physical and technical assessment and observation in and out of competition”
Beside that are the classes defined by each sport and form part of the sport rules According to the IPC is classification an ongoing process. When an athlete starts competing, they are allocated a class that may be reviewed throughout the athlete's career. Also IPC permit flexibility on how agreed principles are implemented. This gives in my point of view enough room for the participation of ID athletes, but then again why should they join this competition where everybody has been labeled to the max. 29 classes in the swimming competition all on medical ground in a sport which can be easily adjust to the athletes instead that the athletes have to adapted to the rules of the sport.
First judo thrills
One of my greatest joys in life comes when a Special Olympics athlete proves that he or she can do something that everyone thought was impossible. I have seen athletes serve and be leaders on Boards of Directors, certify as Coaches or Officials, and compete in sports that the World thought they could never understand. Watching athletes compete in Judo in the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games was one of those times. I recall the arguments in Washington where people said that we should encourage 'fighting' between our athletes; or that our athletes would not know the difference between sport enthusiasm and aggression. The athletes proved them all wrong by proving their ability in a sport many people misunderstand. So I was a fan of Special Olympics Judo even before walking onto the mats at a demonstration in Amsterdam. But once the activities started and I was paired with other participants to play the games that start one's Judo training, I was hooked on a personal level. IN these activities I was sometimes interacting with an athlete and sometimes another coach or 'guest'. There was no time to think about who I should pick, everyone was equal on the mat. Well, kind of equal; actually the Special Olympics athletes proved to be much stronger and more agile than ANY of the 'guests'. I lift weights, run and am considered pretty 'fit'. But I was no match for any of the athletes - young, old, big, small, male or female. They were able to move me where they wanted me. They taught me by example, encouragement and humor. I left the experience excited by the fact that I had just witnessed an example of everything we stand for in Special Olympics: Quality sports training that leads to confident and talented athletes; integration of disabled and non-disabled athletes as equals in sport - except for the part where they were all better than me!; and a sense of community and support for each other made me feel at home on the mat even though I didn't speak the same language or know the right moves. I was accepted there. If ever there was an advertisement for the power and rationalization for WHY someone would take up Special Olympics Judo, it is the athletes and coaches I met in Amsterdam. I can't wait to watch as the participants in that demonstration go out to other regions of the World to see that we offer Special Olympics Judo and its benefits to the rest of the World.
Dave Lenox
Vice President Sports
Special Olympics Inc.
