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The largest Swiss sporting event for the mentally handicapped wants to make you more visible.
The largest sporting event in Switzerland for people with intellectual disabilities takes place in St. Gallen from Thursday to Sunday: the summer edition of the Special Olympics National Games. The OC has been preparing for this event for three years. President Martin Rutishauser talks about the goals of the event.
SRF: What is the National Games about for you?
Martin Rutishauser: Sport is of course an important part, but in the end it’s about inclusion. Sport is a good way to show that these are people like you and me. Maybe sometimes a little different in the way they approach someone, but they are part of our society and we want to integrate them.
The athletes compete in 14 sports, for example athletics, football, sailing or horseback riding. So it’s also about performance?
You have to expect a popular sports event. But the people who take part try to perform at their best.
The people who take part try to perform at their best.
We try to form groups within the sports with a maximum of eight people who are as homogeneous as possible in terms of performance. And within these groups of eight, they compete for medals. In the end, everyone is allowed on the podium.
These games are a big occasion, they also have a budget of almost four million Swiss francs. What were the challenges for the OK?
The most important thing was that we said from the start that we are making these games for the athletes. We don’t do it for the audience or for us from the OC, but the athletes should feel comfortable.
The people are the focus.
Yes, the inclusion of these people in society. We’re still a bit of a two-class society. You still think it’s nice, but the fact that they’re a completely normal part of our society hasn’t arrived yet.
How should this inclusion take place?
It is our wish or our vision that they become part of our club life. For example, we have seven or eight sports clubs in our organization Valida. However, people with mental disabilities do sport separately here.
The aim would be that we bring them into the normal sports clubs.
The aim would be that we bring them into the normal sports clubs. And not only in sports, but also in other areas, it should be normal for them to be involved. It is clear that this does not work for everyone. But if it worked for a large part, that would be nice.
Sascha Zürcher conducted the interview.