Cheers as Special Games athletes touch down
Hundreds of airline passengers cheered and applauded today as the bulk of athletes and supporters for the Special Olympic Games arrived in Ireland.
Most of the competitors – totalling about 7,000 – touched down in Dublin and Belfast before heading for the 177 cities, towns and villages hosting their teams on both sides of the border ahead of the start this weekend of the world’s biggest international sporting event of the year.
As the sportsmen and women were led on to Irish soil from their aircraft by pipers, holidaying and business passengers stopped and spontaneously clapped to welcome the athletes and their followers.
Tom Rice, of the Special Olympics Committee in Cork, was in Dublin to greet the Mexican delegation for the games.
He said: “The first thing we will have to address is their recovery from a long and arduous flight. We have lined up a number of functions to welcome them to Cork.”
Sports Minister John O’Donoghue, today attending a meeting between a group of host towns and visiting Olympians, added to criticism of pop impresario Louis Walsh for his controversial suggestion that the Special Olympics were “little more than an ego trip” for the organisers.
Mr Walsh, founder of the Boyzone and Westlife chart-topping boy bands, has apologised for the comments, but continued to come under attack from several quarters.
Mr O’Donoghue described Mr Walsh’s remarks as “insensitive and factually incorrect“.
He added: “People such as Mr Walsh should think twice before making comments in the future.”
