Starting June 5 at Exploria Stadium, the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games will unite more than 5,500 athletes and coaches from all 50 states and the Caribbean and 125,000 spectators. This event will have 19 Olympic-style team and individual sports and 30 events at venues across Orlando. We talked with the president and chief executive officer of this year’s Games, Joe Dzaluk, about the work that has gone into setting up the event over the past four years, how COVID interrupted and changed planning, how Orlando has adopted the Games as a major event and much more.
Among the topics discussed in this episode:
The level of excitement and anticipation in the community (1:57): “We’ve been working on these games for almost four and a half years. And so to be now within the last week, there’s a high level of excitement. Some of our family members already down here, so we’re just excited to finally be able to hold it and start the largest USA Special Olympic Ggames in the 52-year history of our program.”
How the community worked together to win the bid four years ago (2:42): “We’ve never had the games here in Florida. They’ve been throughout the United States. So for us, it was an exciting process to put together the bid and I led the bid team. And that was just an exciting period. So I think people realize and know, but Central Florida is really a tourism capital, probably tourism, capital of the U.S. … it’s also a great sports tourism destination. So we were able to get government leaders, business leaders, members of the community. members of the sports commissions all together. And we put together a very competitive bid. We beat several other states out and really it was the combination of our sports venues, which we think are world-class here. And then it’s just a fun place for people to come and visit.”
Having the week be more than just a sporting competition (3:55): “For the first time ever in the history of the Games, athletes will be staying here in hotels. Normally they stay in college dorms and very often the games have been on college campuses, but our athletes will be staying at Disney hotels. They’ll be visiting Disney theme parks on two separate occasions throughout the week. And we’ve got a lot of fun things to do in addition to the sporting competitions, which will run the entire week. So it’s fun. It’s competition. It’s great weather. We just think we hit a home run in terms of putting together a package that’s exciting.”
What went into securing facilities that would be part of this event and pitching them to be part of this event (4:49): “We’re blessed to have the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex be basically our host. We’ll have about half of the sports, 10 out of the 19 sports, will be there. And so that’s a beautiful 230-acre campus. Disney was our host partner from day one. … and then we’re fortunate, as I said, people know us as a theme park destination of course, but we’ve got the USTA headquarters down here, which is the largest tennis complex in the world, about 100 tennis courts. We’ve got the Rosa aquatic center, which is where many competitions have been held. … And for the most part, they said our venue is your venue. That was the easiest thing, securing the venues.”
What preparation in the weeks leading to the Opening Ceremony has been like (6:10): “… The key thing for us is the athletes are going to be here for eight days. And so we’ve got the official delegation size is slightly over 6,000 people. So we’ve got to move 6,000 people every day. We’ve got to transport them to various sporting venues, got to get them fed, got to get home to the theme parks. And so there’s a lot of logistics involved and that’s been a huge task for us. Fortunately we’re here in Orlando, which we like to think is also about logistics capital of the world, because on any given day we’re moving, I think last summer was about 450,000 tourists to convention centers to theme parks, to hotels. So there’s a great infrastructure here, but nonetheless, you know, sometimes with Special Olympic athletes require some additional time to move through lines or have additional requirements, wheelchairs, et cetera. So it’s been very challenging for the team, but we’ve had a lot of time to plan and we’ve got some very talented people from the community who are volunteering their times from the various theme parks and sports venues. So we’ve got a great team it’s complex. It’s. But we’re well prepared. And we’re excited.”
How many volunteers were recruited to help organize the event to make it run smoothly (7:51): “We rely upon volunteers consistent with the traditional Olympics to do a lot of our tasks. We’ve currently got over 12,000 volunteers who have signed up. … There are some people, every four years, they have this on their calendar every four years and they do it and they’ve been doing it for decades. We are fortunate enough here to have some great large companies, such as Disney who have a big volunteer program and Publix and Jersey Mike’s. So it’s been a combination of pretty easy and really hard because there’s some specific skills that are a little harder to come by. For example, we will do 12,000 health exams. One of the things people think is we’re a sporting competition. We’re also a health organization … half our athletes have never been on a plane or left their home state. We take for granted, these are athletes and they’re traveling to competitions, (but) not so much. So for us, this is a great chance to showcase our openness and how much we just really will welcome (and) open our hearts, our minds.”
What COVID has forced organizers to adjust during the past four years of planning since winning the bid (13:07): “So it’s been a little bit of a roller coaster. Obviously COVID has impacted the world, impacted in all dimensions and parts of our society. It’s been a big impact for us, especially because our athletes are significantly more vulnerable. Not only to COVID, but to many other illnesses and diseases. … the other challenge, which I would not have anticipated until six months ago, is supply chain in order for us to get simple things you’d think we’d be able to get, we haven’t been able to get or I had to change suppliers or make other adjustments. … it’s been a challenge. We’ve got a great team. We’ve worked our way through. And we are ready and looking forward really to having all the athletes come here next week.”
Why a person should attend in person or watch the Games on television (14:36): “We’ve got athletes competing in wheelchairs to our highest level, which could be the equivalent of Division II college sports with very competitive teams. Regardless of the level it’s always great competition because you’re competing against people of your same skillset. But the reason I would tell people to whether or not it’s on TV or if you happen to be here in Florida and want to come take a nice vacation to Orlando, watching our athletes is for me very inspiring. It shows the grit, the determination, their effort despite the challenges and the difficulties they may be going through. For me, it’s just a good reminder and I just find it inspiring”
How this experience changed — if at all — what Special Olympics means to him (15:45): “I think I appreciate it much more. I’ve been involved with Special Olympics for over a decade in various volunteering positions been working closely with the athletes. One of the things we tried to do with these Games is ensure everything we do is through the lens of — whether it’s our logo, our slogan — we’re all designed and developed by our athletes. … our athletes are different. They have intellectual differences. Sometimes they’ve got bigger challenges. Sometimes they’ve got better insight. They’re just different. And we can learn a lot from that. And I think often society decides what our athletes can and can’t do, and not on a factual basis, but just stereotypes. And for me, I’ve been able to see what our athletes do. And it really is amazing and it’s inspiring. And it’s humbling.”
What the Opening Ceremony emotions will be like (16:57): “Hopefully I’ll get a chance to absorb it and watch it through a different lens. We’ve got an exciting program. Sara Bareilles is going to be our entertainment. We have Disney doing the producing of the show. So there’s just a lot of exciting aspects of the Opening Ceremonies where we’re holding it at Exploria Stadium, which is a beautiful new soccer stadium in Orlando. The environment’s going to be great. We’re going to have athletes who are going to be inspiring … I’m just going to hopefully be able to sit back with pride and watch our athletes enjoy the ceremony.”
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