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Special Olympics: 125 handicapped athletes travel to Berlin

Special Olympics

125 handicapped people from Hamburg travel to Berlin for a competition

Sascha Costa (left) and Kaissa Ottenberg look after the ETV athletes.

Photo: Marcelo Hernandez / FUNKE Photo Services

At the tournament in Berlin, 125 people with mental disabilities and multiple disabilities from Hamburg are fighting to qualify for the 2023 World Games.

Hamburg. The adventure that awaits you in Berlin from June 19th to 24th begins this Friday. With a torch relay on the Outer Alster, which starts at 11.15 a.m. on the premises of the Rowing community Hansa starts, 200 people want as part of the Active City Days not only set a sign for more exercise in everyday life.

They also want to draw attention to the national Special Olympics, the national competition for people with mental and multiple disabilities, which has existed since 1991 and which is attracting around 4,000 athletes in 20 sports to the capital this year. 125 of them come from Hamburg – and are part of the torch relay from Sportsenator Andy Grote officially adopted.

Special Olympics: “Everyone is really hot for it”

Kaissa Ottenberg (21) and Sascha Costa (36) know how excited they are. The two lead the support teams for Eimsbütteler TV, each of which will accompany nine athletes from the areas of swimming and judo to Berlin. “Everyone is really excited to compete on a stage like this and to be able to experience such a great supporting program,” says Sascha Costa, who is employed by the ETV as Judo Sports Director. The opening ceremony on Sunday evening in the Alte Försterei, the stadium of the Bundesliga soccer club 1. FC Union, is a highlight in itself.

On the other hand, excitement and uncertainty mix with the anticipation. “For some, it’s the first time they’ve been away from home for an extended period. In addition, it is a great sporting challenge that they face,” says Sascha Costa, whose youngest protégé is 14 years old.



Ottenberg runs the swimming school at ETV

Kaissa Ottenberg, who runs the swimming school at ETV and is completing a dual degree in business administration with a focus on sports management, looks after athletes aged 16 to 34 in her group. “For some, it’s their first competition ever because we weren’t able to make any offers during the pandemic. It goes without saying that they are excited,” she says.

Especially since the six days of competition are not just about honor. The national championships are considered a qualifying event for the Special Olympics World Games, which also take place in Berlin every four years from June 17th to 25th, 2023. “That’s a great additional motivation,” says Kaissa Ottenberg, whose brother Morten takes part as a swimmer. Nonetheless, cooperation is the priority. “The active people enjoy being able to do sports together. I’ve never seen competitions fairer than the Special Olympics,” says Costa.

“Inclusion is a fundamental task for us at ETV”

The former national team judoka is constantly trying to introduce new coaches to the tasks involved in dealing with mentally disabled people and people with multiple disabilities. “Fortunately, we manage to do that, because inclusion is a fundamental task for us at ETV,” he says.


He tries to disperse the well-known concern in many clubs of not being able to cope with the challenges that drives some trainers. “It’s really no more difficult to take care of a group of people with disabilities. You just have to be prepared for a slightly slower pace and unpredictable moments,” he says.

Special Olympics – there will be plenty of room for fun

It can happen that procedures that have been rehearsed 100 times in training still go wrong in competition. “Somebody swims one lane too many or in the wrong direction,” says Kaissa Ottenberg. The nice thing is that everyone can laugh about such mishaps together without accusations arising from it. And so they are sure that their adventure will offer plenty of scope for fun, despite all the sporting ambitions.

Updated: Thu, 06/16/2022, 06:13 a.m

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