New Zealand Special Olympics Team Counting Down Hours Until Opening Ceremony

The 39 New Zealand athletes competing at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin are only hours away from the biggest event of their lives.

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The full New Zealand delegation get familiar with Munich during their training camp in Bavaria this week

The New Zealand delegation, including 22 support staff, arrived in the German capital Thursday night after a long bus journey from Munich where the athletes had been preparing for the past week.

Head of Delegation Rowena Massey said the athletes had acclimatised well to their new German surroundings and been overwhelmed by the hospitality of the local hosts.

“The athletes have been training hard most days since we arrived, and we have had a busy schedule as part of the Host Town programme as well,” said Massey.

Each of the 179 Delegations competing at the World Summer Games has been welcomed by a host town across Germany, and the New Zealand delegation experienced some outstanding Bavarian hospitality from the city of Garching, on the outskirts of Munich, and the neighbouring towns of Ismanning and Unterfohring.

“We had a formal welcome with German folk dances which included speeches from the three Mayors and we also visited some local schools which the athletes really enjoyed,” says Massey.

“The athletes loved talking to the kids about who they were, what sports they did and where they were from. It was great watching all this and seeing the kick our athletes got from people taking the time to find out more about them.”

The Kiwis then surprised their German hosts by sharing our Māori culture through waiata, poi, rakau and haka which the athletes have been practicing the past few weeks.

The city of Garching also invited the local community to meet the visitors and hundreds of locals turned out in the town square to wish the New Zealanders all the best for their competition.

With the cultural festivities concluded, Massey says that the athletes and coaches are now turning their focus to the nine sports in which New Zealand will be represented.

“We are lucky that the competition is starting soon, because it is fair to say that we haven’t gone hungry.”

The New Zealand team is settling into the team hotel near the famous Potsdamer Platz in the heart of Berlin and have started preparations for their first events on Sunday and the opening ceremony on Saturday night (7am Sunday NZ time), where the teams will be welcomed by 80,000 fans in the Olympiastadion.

Over 7000 athletes have arrived in Berlin to compete in 26 sports across the German capital, supported by 20,000 volunteers and by an expected 300,000 fans.

“The city is just buzzing. From the moment you arrive at the airport or drive into town, Special Olympics banners uniforms are dominating the city,” says Massey.

“Just to witness our welcome in Bavaria, you can really sense that not just Berlin, but the entire country has really embraced these World Summer Games,” says Massey, who adds that the athletes are embracing all the attention.

“Special Olympics athletes in New Zealand train and compete out of the spotlight and don’t get much attention in the media or their communities, so they all love the attention here and being treated like the stars they are.”

The World Summer Games are supported by a long list of icons from different sporting codes, as ambassadors and Friends of the Games, and the New Zealand athletes may soon be mingling with the likes of NBA champion Dirk Nowitski, football stars Didier Drogba and Philipp Lahm, Olympic figure skating champion Katarina Witt, athletics legend Bob Beamon and many, many more.

Bocce players Blair Smith, from North Canterbury, and Horowhenua’s Aaron Campbell will be among the first to rub shoulders with the stars, when they compete in a Unified event with some the celebrities later this week, while Auckland golfer Mitchell Brown was stunned to receive a message of support from surfing world champion Kelly Slater.

“You just feel that these World Summer Games are next level. Whatever the results, this will all be life-changing for our athletes,” says Massey.

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