{"id":804606,"date":"2020-02-25T18:39:02","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T01:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=379522"},"modified":"2020-02-25T18:39:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T01:39:02","slug":"antonio-olivero-theres-no-sporting-spirit-like-the-spirit-of-a-special-olympian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/antonio-olivero-theres-no-sporting-spirit-like-the-spirit-of-a-special-olympian\/","title":{"rendered":"Antonio Olivero: There\u2019s no sporting spirit like the spirit of a Special Olympian"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Summit Clark, 12, of Silverthorne holds up his pair of silver medals he won at last weekend’s Special Olympics Colorado State Winter Games at Copper Mountain Resort.<\/strong>
Courtesy Heidi Clark<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

COPPER MOUNTAIN \u2014 Living in a ski town 1,900 miles from where you grew up, it\u2019s not often you\u2019re blessed with an experience that reminds you of home. Sunday at Copper Mountain Resort was one of those days.<\/p>\n

Fellow locals Ernesto Blanco, Caroline Willis and Summit Clark are three of the eight Special Olympians who raced for the Summit Tigers at last weekend\u2019s Colorado Special Olympics State Winter Games at Copper. The Tigers and hundreds of other Special Olympians from around the state braved Sunday\u2019s powder conditions to race with their friends.<\/p>\n

A chairlift ride with young Summit, 12, was just the experience I needed to put life back into perspective.<\/p>\n

I arrived Sunday just in time to join Summit and Tigers volunteer Diane Mikulis for a ride up the American Flyer bubble chair. As skiers and riders negotiated packed-powder bumps below us, I asked Summit about the most important part of winning a silver medal in super-G the day before.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the key is to just go as fast as you can,\u201d Summit said. \u201cAnd try to get a good place.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s as simple as that for Summit and the rest of the Special Olympians: Go fast and try your best. As we rode up the chair, I joked with Summit that they named the county after him and that after his silver medal the day before, Silverthorne also was named in honor of him. Summit\u2019s wide smile under his adorable glasses reminded me of the kind of smile I\u2019d see as a kid when we\u2019d go watch my cousin Chris compete in Special Olympics back in New York.<\/p>\n

Chris never skied at Special Olympics, though he did once make the trek up to Lake Placid, New York, to watch sports like skating on the famous 1980 Olympic ice. Forty years to the day after the \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d took place in that New York mountain town in which I used to live, Summit and the rest of the Tigers Special Olympians cultivated in me the same it\u2019s-OK-to-believe-in-miracles spirit that Chris has always reminded me to remember, whether he be at Special Olympics or fighting a winning battle against acute myeloid leukemia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chris\u2019 life, like so many of the Summit Tigers\u2019 Special Olympians, has included one miracle after another. After all, you\u2019re talking about a man who\u2019s grown to 46 years old \u2014 still competing in Special Olympics \u2014 long after he was born with Down syndrome and doctors told my aunt and uncle not to take him home. They were told the nuns would take care of him for now, as he wouldn\u2019t make his first birthday.<\/p>\n

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LIVE: Silverthorne Special Olympian Summit Clark, 12, tells us about his silver medal on the Super G course yesterday as we take the chairlift up to the slalom event at Copper Mountain Resort\u2026<\/p>\n

Posted by Summit Daily News<\/a> on Sunday, February 23, 2020<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Special Olympians like Summit and their families have faced doubt like that often in their lives, as well. But what I\u2019ve learned at Special Olympics from New York to Colorado is that there is no spirit like the spirit of a Special Olympian. Summit reminded me of that after we hopped off the top of the Flyer and skied down to the slalom course. As I followed him down the mountain and chatted with him, each question I asked had the same response.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou betcha,\u201d he said as he confidently turned around moguls.<\/p>\n

Back in the Copper Mountain ballroom with the Tigers, I chatted with Ernesto. I learned Ernesto, a gold medalist the day prior, was a neighbor of mine in Dillon Valley. As I chatted with Ernesto, another Tiger, Vital LaRoque, tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to find Vital smiling, as the 37-year-old kid\u2013at-heart shared his own Special Olympics story.<\/p>\n

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