Motions — New Zealand Special Olympics Team 2023—Congratulations

Point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek leave to move a motion without notice and with debate congratulating the New Zealand Special Olympics team on their achievements at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin, Germany.

💬 SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.

I move, That this House congratulate the New Zealand Special Olympics Team, comprising 39 athletes and 22 support staff, on their success at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin, where they won five gold medals, 17 silver medals, and 12 bronze medals.

On behalf of the Government, I would like to congratulate the entire team on their record achievements at the World Summer Games in Berlin. The team will be welcomed home to Aotearoa New Zealand as heroes this week, having achieved a record number of medals.

I’d also like to recognise that the team’s achievements extend beyond the incredible medal count. Our athletes have been smashing personal bests, learning more about just what they are capable of, and developing lifelong friendships and bonds along the way. Athletes representing Aotearoa New Zealand for the games are chosen for both their sporting ability and their resilience. As the games were hosted in Berlin, attending has meant undertaking the longest journey many of our athletes have ever made, while being away from their family and loved ones for three weeks. This trip to Berlin has been truly life changing for many of these athletes and support staff. I applaud our athletes for taking on the challenge of participating in this event and for demonstrating the true sense of being a team. They have strengthened their bonds together, supported one another through the excitement of attending the event, and attaining individual success while also supporting each other through any disappointments. These athletes are truly inspirational, showing us what it means to be thrown out of your comfort zone on the other side of the world and to come out on the other side stronger together, having gained new skills and developed confidence and greater independence.

There are so many highlights I hesitate to mention them, but I will acknowledge a few. Footballer Cole Bailey, who scored Aotearoa New Zealand’s first ever goal at a Special Olympics World Summer Games; ten-pin bowler Len Just, who was the oldest athlete in the contingent—I won’t say how old—winning gold and two bronze medals; powerlifter Lynett Williams achieving her dream of winning a gold medal, then winning three more medals, two silvers and a bronze; and bocce player Aaron Campbell from the mighty Ōtaki electorate enjoying two personal bests, winning New Zealand’s first Special Olympics gold medal and travelling overseas for the first time in his life.

I echo the words of the Head of Delegation, Rowena Massey, in saying that the rewards and skills the athletes have gained go so much further than the medal count. The lessons gained will support the athletes in their lives, supporting greater engagement in the community, employment, and education opportunities. On behalf of the Government, I say again: congratulations. We all welcome you home to Aotearoa New Zealand and encourage you to continue to strive for your best, have fun along the way. You have been an inspiration to all of us in showing what determination, resilience, and teamwork can achieve. Each of our athletes has embodied the Special Olympics oath: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a great privilege to rise on behalf of the National Party to support the motion and to congratulate New Zealand’s Special Olympics team on their great performance at the Berlin Special Olympics World Summer Games.

I had the privilege of chairing our Special Olympics for some nine years. In that role, I also attended a world summer games in Los Angeles, and to attend one of those events and see, I guess, the transformational and almost life-changing effect it has on those athletes and their families and the supporters is pretty amazing.

Whilst we congratulate the athletes on their fantastic performances in Berlin, I want to acknowledge the team management, the coaches, the medical staff, and the supporters, including caregivers and parents, whose roles are so important in ensuring the success of this team and the total experience these athletes have—win, lose, or draw. This team—we’ve just heard the results of it. They won well over 30 medals, with 39 athletes competing. That’s almost a medal per athlete, and I think that’s pretty significant in itself. But, as I said earlier, win, lose, or draw, these athletes gain significantly from the experience of attending a world summer games, and, as the Minister said just a minute ago, most of these athletes had never left New Zealand before.

This team was led by Rowena Massey, who’s given great service to the organisation over a number of years. Her experience would have been a great asset to the team, as it is a very complex task to lead a team like the Special Olympics team on an international trip of quite significant length. So I think she would have done a great job of that, and also Dr Nicole Lundon. I want to acknowledge that both of these roles are totally critical to the success of the team.

To see the sheer enjoyment of these athletes as they compete on the international stage has to be experienced to understand how important participation in sport is to our Special Olympians. It’s not only the participation in the sport but it’s the participation in the whole atmosphere and the excitement of the event, which is what really creates great value for them. I also want to acknowledge all those, including the athletes themselves, who raised the enormous amount of money needed to ensure that this team could travel to Berlin to compete. They do a fantastic job, all of it voluntarily. Congratulations to Special Olympics New Zealand, their athletes, and the thousands of volunteers on this very successful mission.

Congratulations to the New Zealand Special Olympics team in Berlin 2023. The records that they’ve achieved have been extraordinary: 34 medals; 17 silver, 12 bronze medals, and five gold across nine disciplines. The 39 athletes and 22 support staff were led by the head of delegation, Rowena Massey, and chief executive Fran Scholey, and it’s a fitting testament to the founders, which Mr McKelvie may know, of Grant and Wendy Quinn, who, from small and pioneering steps, today, have built a legacy for this organisation.

The Kiwis joined 7,000 other athletes with an intellectual disability from 190 countries, and the games, being hosted in the German city of Berlin were a testament to the German spirit around the special winter Olympics. As Mr Robertson said, it has been truly a life-changing event for these athletes, and seeing them at the Brandenburg Gate celebrating was extraordinary.

My colleague Toni Severin, who is spokesperson for disabilities, highlighted to me that these people are selected on sports ability, mental resilience, and being able to handle staying away from home for three weeks. We really value them and the Special Olympics that they have performed in.

The touching moment for me was Dunedin powerlifter Ryan Stewart, who isn’t a big man, but he deadlifted 152.5 kilograms of weight—which Mr Nash would probably struggle to do! Maybe we should bring Ryan here, and we’ll have a deadlift competition! That was truly spectacular. Again, Mr Clark would know, he came from Dunedin, and his words were, “He had nothing to lose.”

But there were are a couple of things that did disturb. The level of funding for these people to support them is very, very low, and the host of athletes are not in paid work. And even golfer Mitchell Brown, who won gold, appeared on The AM Show this year, and he had to start a Givealittle to fund his trip to Berlin. I think it would be appropriate before we leave in this Parliament to bring these people to Parliament, and we can do that, I hope, Mr Robertson. Thank you.

Kia ora, Mr Speaker. On behalf of the Green Party, I want to extend our congratulations to the New Zealand Special Olympics team for what many have described as being an amazing performance in these games in Berlin in 2023, with many athletes setting personal records and the team overall achieving a record number of medals during the competitions.

I want to extend a massive heartfelt congratulations not just to the medallists but to everyone who competed, their family members, and the support staff who were going there. I think, echoing the words of the previous speakers, all of the success has been done amidst huge resourcing challenges, and the fact that many of our disabled athletes are having to fundraise for whatever little resources are there speaks to the barriers that we are yet to overcome.

I want to also thank the journalists who took the time to cover these events, because for many of these events there’s also inequities when it comes to the broadcasting. And so it’s great to see actually the amount of New Zealand media covering the amazing performances and successes from the team as well.

And as the previous speaker also mentioned, all of this in the context of global uncertainty, where some of the teams overseas are actually facing threats from other politicians about cutting their funding or imposing sanctions on their own country’s Special Olympics team—so it’s amazing that the competition went ahead. It’s awesome that our athletes performed really well, and it’s a testament of both what they’ve achieved and what we have yet to overcome. Thank you.

Motion agreed to.