Kiama Downs resident, Kellie Hanson, has just returned from an amazing fortnight at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin.

Once every four years, in the year prior to the Olympics, 7000 athletes with an intellectual disability from 190 countries, gather together to compete in the games competed in 26 sports. It is the largest humanitarian event to take place in the world. 

Kellie was selected as an Assistant to the Australian Women’s Basketball Team which won the Bronze Medal. “I was super excited to be one of only six officials from NSW, to be selected to be part of the team representing Australia at the games,” Kellie said.

Being Kiama born and bred this was something she had long dreamed of but never believed she could attain. As the Chairperson for Special Olympics in the Illawarra, she said

“I am absolutely passionate about Special Olympics and the sporting opportunities it provides for athletes with an intellectual disability. The World Games is the pinnacle for these athletes.”

Kellie was part of the team for Women’s basketball and has spent the last six months preparing the athletes for the challenge of travelling to Berlin, with some athletes never having travelled overseas before, and some had never been away from their families for any length of time. She said, “The time spent in preparation faded into insignificance when we all met at Brisbane Airport, where the excitement and anticipation was palpable.”

The Opening Ceremony will forever be embedded in all their memories. Walking through the tunnel under the stadium as the 64 Australian athletes thunderously chanted “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” and sang “Come on Aussie come on”, just cannot be put into words. Then the athletes entered the Berlin Stadium, the same Olympic Stadium that hosted the 1936 Olympic Games.

“All I can say is Wow!” Kellie enthuses, “I spotted my husband and daughter in the packed stadium, and I became a jumping mad woman, so humbled to be part of a life changing journey.”

This was the start of the Games and memories to last a lifetime. Our Women’s Basketball team played their hearts out. Preliminary games saw them win 3 of 5 games. In their third-round game against Azerbaijan, they needed to win by 5 points to take them to the gold medal match, but in one of the roughest games that Kellie has ever witnessed in 45 years of basketball, our women were battered and bruised with the Azerbaijan team recording 27 fouls, 5 technical fouls and having two of their players ejected from the game!

The Australian Women's Basketball Team

The Australian Team won by 4 and were relegated to the bronze medal match. Our girls were disappointed but rose to the challenge. They got away to a great start, but Kazakhstan came back resulting in a draw at full time. They were neck and neck in extra time, until, with 9 seconds on the clock, one of our girls was fouled, resulting in 2 free throws, both of which she sank, to steal the win!

“The Aussie crowd erupted, the screams and tears were let loose, and the rest is history.” Kellie says “I can't really put into words what the whole experience was like. Travelling with any team is a challenge, but when all the athletes have an intellectual disability, the challenges are absolutely increased. But the joy and excitement totally outweigh any obstacles we faced.”

After a well-deserved holiday, Kellie will return to weekly training and supporting our Illawarra athletes, but with an eye to the future and four years' time, she can only dream of the next world games.

The Bugle would like to congratulate the team and acknowledge the hard work and dedication that it takes to win a medal at the Olympics.