Shriver gives Ireland perfect 10

SPECIAL OLYMPICS CEO Tim Shriver has given the movement he heads the challenge of trying to live up to the example set by Ireland this week in future World Games.

Shriver, son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver and successor to his father, Sargent Shriver, as the movement’s chief executive officer, was visiting the AUL complex at Clonshaugh in north Dublin yesterday to watch Ireland take on South Africa in football. He spoke of Ireland’s hosting of the Games, the first staging of the event outside the US, in glowing terms.

“I give it a perfect 10,” Shriver said. “Without a doubt, it’s not just about the decision to move the games away from the States, it’s about the decision to have it owned and loved by people all over the world with the Irish showing the way that this is not just an American movement but a global movement. Any people who care, who have an open spirit of acceptance, can host these games.