Game on

MARY DAVIS is on her third phone of the day, a day which began at 7am and is now 15, verging on a less than sweet 16 hours old. The borrowed mobile is staple-gunned to the side of her head, its battery power waning more than Davis herself.

A while ago, the chief executive of Special Olympics 2003 had endured a tough and tetchy televised scrap with Brian Farrell on 'Prime Time' with the veteran broadcaster haranguing her about her committee's response to SARS. She remained calm and coherent, didn't take the bait, answered her questions as best she could and to those watching in the studio, won the bout on points. The calls, and there are many, are all of the same opinion.

She is smiling, a brandy glass rests in one hand, she begins to relax. And then the phone begins to ring again.

The level of pressure and expectation has been huge since her appointment in 1999 after a highly successful spell as Director of Special Olympics Ireland. Four years ago, Davis, a former physical education teacher enjoyed a full-time staff of one.

Today, that number stands at 200 with 2,000 working in a volunteer capacity on a daily basis and a further 30,000 operating during the course of the Games. Despite such support, the pressure continues to intensify as the largest sporting event ever hosted on Irish shores fills her every waking moment.

When SARS rumbled in, it put the entire country in a spin. Davis was in the vortex.

"We would have been acutely aware in all our planning, that there are infectious diseases, that can be spread and be contracted and we would have had a lot of contingency planning for such eventualities," she says.

"Before the threat of SARS, we were working closely with the Irish National Disease Surveillance Centre on all the contingency plans which need to be put in place for infectious diseases. So when SARS came along, it was one of those scenarios, which was not unexpected and which we were prepared for."

As per their risk management planning, a pre-ordained process was activated when Davis and her colleagues met with the Department of the Health, Minister Michael Martin and the officials at the NDSC. Their own medical experts began their own precautionary measures in a bid to be as pro-active in tackling the situation, measures which are often above and beyond the requirements of the World Health Organisation.

"The measures that we can take within our powers are to request people to go into quarantine, (in hotspots such as Hong Kong, China or Singapore). There we can monitor the situation with our own Irish doctors, who we are prepared to send out with a representative of the WHO," she states.

"That is as much as we can do, and we are also to look at some form of screening when the actually get to Ireland."

When in Ireland, the athletes and their trainers will have access to a four tier medical system with first aid centres at every venue along with clinics, regional centres and liaison personnel with each of the local hospitals.

"The strange thing is the competing athletes will be going through more rigorous screening that any regular visitor to this country. Everybody has to submit medical forms before they come here and they are constantly updated. Can you say that for every other visitor who comes in from Toronto or China, or Hong Kong or Singapore? We have every single system in place that we can to ensure that everybody is safe and to reduce the threat to the people of Ireland."

But obviously that message never reached Clonmel, where the local town council voiced their unease about hosting athletes from Hong Kong. Davis, though tired of answering the question, is keen to get her message across: "Obviously, we would have preferred if they had waited for the expert group to report back and to make their final measures. They are concerned. We are all a little concerned. But why should we highlight Special Olympics in all of this? It is four out of 166 delegations. It is less than 300 athletes from the affected countries, and that figure is less again when you consider the affected areas within those countries. Nobody from Toronto is coming to the games. From Ontario yes, but not Toronto."

Threats of pandemics aside, Mary Davis has one huge fear. It is not transport failure, terrorism or poor public support ... "That it would rain for the entire nine days of the competition".

"You can plan all you like and there is very little you can do when the rain belts down. We are praying that the rain will stay away."

She also wants a feelgood factor that goes beyond the immediate success of the event.

"I would hope for a legacy which will highlight and bring an awareness of people with disabilities in a very positive way, to break down barriers and enable people with disabilities to take their rightful place in society. The only difference with people with a learning disability and I know because I taught them is that they are a little bit slower to learn, but by God they are just as capable. They are a pleasure to work with."

She cites one young woman as a case in point. "We have one person with a learning disability on the Board of Directors, Rita Lawlor and she is a wonderful ambassador for Special Olympics. She is as vocal at the Board meetings as Denis O'Brien or any of the other Board members there and she is listened to and her thoughts are taken on board."

The ambition, to acknowledge the abilities and achievements of people like Rita Lawlor is dependent on the 10 days next month, which will place those with special needs in the public consciousness, like never before.

The last World Games were hosted in North Carolina, where the 7,000 athletes and 2,000 coaches were accommodated on two university campuses, next month's games by comparison will require 25 accommodation venues spread across the nation and a mammoth transport system to boot.

Advice was sought on a global scale. "We have looked at Sydney, Salt Lake City, the Commonwealth games in Manchester and we have looked at past Special Olympics games obviously. A delegation also travelled out to the last Winter Special Olympics, in Alaska. It was a smaller number (2,000 competitors) but it gave us a good flavour of what to expect."

THE very best of that international expertise was sought out and hired, a move which proved invaluable. "We have been very fortunate to have staff join us on a full time basis from Sydney from Salt Lake City and from Manchester so they all bring a different flavour to this project. You have a really, really interesting mix of staff."

But it is the Irish response, which has both pleased and excited the organising committee. She tells a story of the work undertaken by prisoners and those in the prison services over the past number of months to illustrate her point. Her face beams as she explains how men behind bars are making podiums for every one of the venues nationwide for the athletes will stand on as they receive their awards. Men, who have made over 80,000 flags for audience participation and donated over €50,000 from a variety of fundraisers.

"The two critical things were people and finance," she points out. "We certainly got the people behind us and it was amazing that so many people, who were so busy in other aspects of their lives were willing to give their time and their talents to the Games and to ensure that it will be successful.

"I think it is an Irish attitude of generosity. I know that some people think that the Celtic Tiger has changed all of that but maybe they have never been challenged like this before. Certainly when we went out and sought people's help, they were just so generous with their time, their expertise and with their financial resources, every single aspect from the Irish government to the EU, to the corporations and companies that work with us and of course the communities at large as well. You name it, people have got behind it."

And she is really confident that the Irish public will continue to do so. RTÉ, a sponsor of the Games will provide a nightly highlights programme with footage from the various competition centres. Radio, national and local will provide daily features while the print media are also set to go the whole nine yards.

"There has been so much interest in the games and we have been able to create that interest because we always said in our bid for the games that these would be games for the people of Ireland and we have been able to do that and to create that. The tickets for the opening ceremony are like hot potatoes. We could fill Croke Park four times over."

And when it is all over, a long rest on a beach somewhere and a chance to turn off that damn mobile phone? If only.

"I am contracted to work with the Games Organising committee until the end of December. But there is an awful lot of wrapping up to be done after the games as before."

Then a well-earned rest? "Then I plan to climb Kilimanjaro and we'll see from there."

Why are we not surprised.