Tim Shriver talks Special Olympics with Shine

Tim Shriver with Special Olympics participant. Specialolympics.orgThe Special Olympics World Summer Games 2011 will begin June 25, in Athens, Greece at the Panathenaic Stadium-home of the first-ever Olympic Games. As the world's largest sporting event this year, the event will include 7,000 athletes from more than 180 countries. More than 300 athletes from Team USA will compete in 22 Olympic-type sports. The 2-week-long competition will conclude on July 4.

Shine caught up with Tim Shriver, Special Olympics' CEO, to talk about the spirit of the Special Olympics, the inspirational athletes competing, and the memory of his mother, founder of the Special Olympics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Shine: This is the first time the Games will take place in Athens, Greece, the home of the first Olympics. What is unique about this and why is this important to you?

Tim Shriver: You know, this is something I have been hearing all my life: "you have to go to the home of the real Olympics." The athletes in Special Olympics, they embody the real Olympic spirit; they are the real Olympic quest. They are the people who we really need to think of as the celebrities of the 21st century. For me and my family, it's a chance to remember all of the gifts my mother gave us as a family. Her message was that you've got to believe in the possibility of every person. I think we each have our own Olympic quest and she encouraged us all to go for it big time. So we go to Athens and everyone knows this is the home of sport, the home of Olympic ideals. We are going there to say thanks, Mom, for giving us those Olympic ideals for the modern world.

Shine: This is the first Special Olympics World Games since its founder, your mom, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, passed away. How will you honor her memory?

TS: We honor her by doing our best at continuing to grow the movement. It's a wonderful experience for all of us as her children and grandchildren to be able to be a part of the movement and to be around the athletes because it always feels like this is where she was happiest. That's what she said: she's happiest when she is with her own family and when she is with the athletes of Special Olympics. So it gives us a chance to not only remember that energy, but to keep it going.

Shine: What lessons have you learned from Special Olympics that you carry with you in your own life?

TS: The lesson is pretty simple: Every one of us has something great within us. I think so many people Jermaine Edie, Special Olympics athlete. Specialolympics.orglet that die, they don't tap into it, they don't have confidence in it, or they don't believe in themselves. It's such a powerful experience to be around our athletes…to see and hear their stories, to look at that exuberance, that gutsiness, that determination, and that joy of sports. You can't come to the world of Special Olympics and not be changed. Just this morning I met Jermaine Edie (a record-holding power lifter competing in Special Olympics). He set a personal record at power lifting last week at 550 pounds. I think to myself, "Thank goodness I am around guys like him so I can figure out how to do a little bit better with my own life." What you have inside is far more important than what anybody thinks or what anybody sees or judges you to be. I think to myself, "Wow, if I could only someday have a little bit of Jermaine Edie, that would be enough."

Shine: There are 7,000 athletes from nearly 180 countries participating in the event. Haiti is even sending a team this year. Can you talk to me a little bit about the reach of this year's Games?

TS: It's amazing that the athletes are coming from countries such as Haiti, Afghanistan, and Rwanda. These are countries where people are struggling to get clean water, where they don't have shelter. They often are risking their lives to go outside and play. And yet, the volunteer or the coach sees something in a Special Olympics athlete and says, "I am willing to risk everything for that person." Can you imagine going to an orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan for children with intellectual disabilities and saying, "I am going to put it on the line so they can play soccer today?" The stories of the athletes coming from Haiti-none of them have homes, they are all living in tents and yet, their spirit somehow inspires others to join. They learn, they run, they compete, and they stand on a medal stand and raise their hands in victory and the whole world goes "wow." That deserves the platform. That is something I want my children to see.

Shine: What message do you have for the athletes competing in this year's event?

TS: You've got something more in you than you ever thought possible. You may think you've done your personal best, but you've got one more level. Give us everything you've got. The world believes in you. Show us what you can do and don't for a minute doubt that you can change us all.

Watch Jermaine Edie power lift 550 lbs at the Special Olympics New York 2010 State Summer Games

To get involved with the Special Olympics movement, visit SpecialOlympics.org and follow Special Olympics on Facebook.

For World Games event coverage click here.





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