2015 Special Olympics World Games Begins Saturday with Opening Ceremonies
Week-long Features will Include:
SMILE
SportsCenter (Sunday 10 a.m., ET, ESPN)
The power of sports to unify and inspire will be on full display at the Special Olympics World Games, kicking off this weekend in Los Angeles with more than 6,500 athletes from 165 countries. SC Featured celebrates these athletes and their stories, all distinctly unique yet nevertheless united with themes of perseverance and spirit, and the pure joy of a smile. Billboard chart-topping band R5’s hit song “SMILE” provides the canvas for capturing these moments.
“When I’m standing on top of the medal stand, I’m on cloud nine, it’s the best place to be…it means you’ve really accomplished something.” – Alyssa Sims, Special Olympics gymnast
“The biggest joy I’ve had in raising Collen is enjoying the world through his eyes.” – Chris Tobin, father of Special Olympics athlete Collen Tobin who competes in the Special Olympics Young Athletes Program
Meet the Little Girl who Wiped Out Government Use of the R-Word
espnW
The Marcellinos started the national conversation around government use of the R-word, inspired by their daughter, Rosa (front).
In 2010, Rosa’s Law changed the way the U.S. government refers to those with intellectual disabilities. But who is Rosa? Luke Cyphers profiles the little girl behind the bill that ended federal use of the R-word.
Wulf: ‘Open up your vocabulary, people’
ESPN.com
For Cleveland Browns’ cornerback Joe Haden, there’s one easy way to show respect to people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, stop using the R-word.
Special Olympics World Games: Words Hurt
ESPN.com
Athletes participating in this year’s Special Olympics describe the harsh treatment they’ve had to endure while finding a way to overcome adversity.
- All Special Olympics coverage can be found here on ESPN.com
Donnovan Hill – Tackling Life’s Challenges
Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m. ESPN; 10 a.m. ESPNEWS)
Three years ago, Outside the Lines told the story of Donnovan Hill, a Pop Warner football star who was seriously injured during a game and is now paralyzed from the neck down. Sunday, Tom Farrey re-visits Hill, now 17, and learns not only how vulnerable kids are on a football field, but how vulnerable families are when things go wrong.
“The roughest part is I’ve got to ask somebody to push me places, take me places, feed me. It’s still pretty hard to get used to having to depend on somebody.” – Donnovan Hill
“My whole life is Donnovan. Everything I do is Donnovan. I really don’t do much outside of Donnovan, and that’s tiring.” – Crystal Dixon, Hill’s mother
“Hopefully his case will change the way these sports organizations approach their duties to these kids.” – Steve Berman, Hill’s attorney, on Pop Warner youth football’s lack of insurance for its players
- Hill attended the ESPYS and Shelley Smith shared some photos in this collection.
Things to know about how ESPN’s ESPYS Countdown red carpet show production team quickly transitioned to the network’s first-ever live coverage of the Opening Ceremony to the Special Olympics World Games.
Bill Bonnell, in the foreground seated second from left, works during a production meeting in Los Angeles.
Sports Reporters
This week’s Panel* (Sunday, 9:30 a.m., ESPN; 10:30 a.m., ESPN2)
Mike Lupica guest host, Howard Bryant, Jemele Hill, Manish Mehta
*Subject to change
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