The Special Olympics Impact
Ahead of the BT Sport Industry Awards 2018, Sport Industry Group spoke to Special Olympics GB athlete Daniel Wolff about progress and success he has achieved while with the Special Olympics team, and the environment the global programme creates for athletes, coaches and volunteers alike…
Daniel won a gold medal at the 2015 World Games, and has since decided to channel his talent and ability through Special Olympics and he continues to go from strength to strength. He is now running with mainstream athletes and breaking his own records on a regular basis.
What was Special Olympics 2015 World Games like?
Los Angeles was amazing! I will never forget it but my coaches were brilliant. Maggie discovered me, said I had great talent and put me on a plan to achieve. She made me believe and introduced me to Dave at Epsom and Ewell athletics club.
Why is your coach and Special Olympics so important to you?
Dave has actually made me train even more and what he does for me is incredible. He has excellent and very different training techniques. He is very friendly.
I would not be where I am without Special Olympics and my coaches.
Describe Los Angeles and the World Games experience. How much of an impact has it had on you personally?
It was the greatest thing in my life to have won a gold medal for Special Olympics Great Britain at the World Games in Los Angeles. I pulled on inspiration from my Olympic Champion great grandfather along with my own talent to succeed in Los Angeles.
Tell us about your great grandfather?
For most people, these names will not ring many bells – Godfrey Rampling, William Roberts, Godfrey Brown and Frederick Wolff. However, deep in the annals of sport and in the files of the British Olympic Association you will find these names as the proud winners of the 4 x 400 metres in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Frederick Wollf ran the opening leg, followed by Rampling, Roberts and Brown. The team won the gold medal for GB in a new European record of 3 minutes and 9 seconds.
Frederick Ferdinand ‘Freddie’ Wolff CBE was born 13th October 1910 and died in 1988. He was born in Hong Kong and was the eldest of four children. On his family’s return to England he was educated at Shirley House Preparatory School and Beaumont College in Windsor. Prior to the Olympic Games, ‘Freddie’ Wolff won the British AAA championship in the 440 yards in 1933. Three years later he was part of the Olympic Squad going to Berlin.
On the 11th April 1994, I was born – the great grandson of Freddie but early in life my parents were told I had autism. As years went by, I was already being drawn to the athletic track. In 2009 I joined Special Olympics Surrey and started serious training on the athletic track with professional coaches.
From 2010, I started to take a very keen interest in the track. Before long I started to run 400 meters in a very respectable time and then progressed to 800 metres. The more competitions that Special Olympics Surrey entered me into, they noticed I was getting quicker and quicker. Maybe great grandfather is looking down and proud of me. Maybe a bit of his talent has been passed to me.
To be able to follow in my great grandfather’s footsteps and represent my country is amazing. I try to run like my great grandfather and to bring home a gold medal for my country is a dream come true. This is fantastic.
To represent Special Olympics Great Britain at the World Games in Los Angeles actually meant the World to me. It is the greatest thing in my life.
ESPN Special Olympics Unified Sports is the official charity partner of the BT Sport Industry Awards 2018. Sport Industry Group sat down with Tim Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics and member of the Kennedy Family through his mother, Eunice – the founder of Special Olympics – last week about the 50th anniversary of the programme and taking the movement to new territories, read more here.
2018 marks ESPN’s 30th anniversary since it began supporting the Special Olympics, ahead of the Special Olympics’ 50th anniversary later this year. Find out more here.
