The Special Olympics, the world’s largest sporting event for athletes with intellectual disabilities, begin in Berlin on Saturday. Tamara Röske, 27, is one of them. She competes in two disciplines and wants to win gold, but something else is more important to her.
By Kristin Kasten
A woman walks briskly across a parking lot in the north of Stuttgart. The neon green backpack on her back rocks up and down. She throws her auburn, wavy hair back over her shoulder. Three young men kick a soccer ball back and forth between the cars, laughing loudly. Music blares from the open trunk door of her small car. The young woman is heading towards the men, not slowing down. “May I drop by, boys?” she asks in a loud voice. The men look up, one stops the ball and puts his foot on it. “Sure thing!” he says, as the woman in her purple sneakers has already passed him. She looks back, smiles, and exclaims, “Have fun!”