The Special Olympics Australia National Games have begun in Melbourne, with more than 850 athletes with an intellectual disability or autism competing in 13 sports, ABC News reports.
The games, held every four years since 1986, run until 23 October at the Albert Park sporting precinct. Sports include tenpin bowling, athletics, swimming, netball, equestrian, golf and DanceSport. Organisers say this year's event is the biggest so far.
Among the competitors is Charlotte Bailey, a 25-year-old tenpin bowler from the ACT who has Down syndrome and has twice spoken at United Nations events on disability rights at work. She told ABC Sport that events like this show people what athletes with disabilities are capable of, and help shift attention to their abilities.
Source: ABC News
Photo: Melbourne (AU), Southbank — 2019 — 1417 by Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative image of Melbourne.
