The niece of former US president John F Kennedy has said everyone in her family continues to hold a “close relationship” with Ireland and its people. Maria Shriver said they would always have a “strong connection to Ireland” and never sees it “diminishing”.
Ms Shriver walked alongside Irish athletes at the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics World Games at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Saturday night and said “my heart told me to walk with Ireland”.
Ms Shriver’s mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics in the 1960s.
“They give you a choice about who you would like to walk out with and I thought it would be nice to walk out with Ireland,” Ms Shriver said. “Ireland is, you know, home to my family. I’ve been there several times.
“They held the first international Special Olympics there in 2003, I was at that and it was such an incredible experience... I have really fond memories of that experience.
“I’ve never met an Irish person I didn’t love and so I thought this would be a great country to walk out with and when I went down into the tunnel, one of the coaches came to me and said ‘welcome home’ and as soon as she said that, I was like I’m exactly where I’m meant to be.”
Ms Shriver also said more than 500 family members had come to support Irish participants in the German capital for the Games, the largest family delegation of any nation.
[ Special Olympics a family affair for Sweeney family from Co TyroneOpens in new window ]
“It [the opening ceremony] was so moving, I had tears in my eyes and I thought my mother would just be beyond excited and moved to see so much support from Ireland,” she said.
Ms Shriver’s brother Tim, who is chairman of the Special Olympics, noted in his speech at the opening ceremony the “weight of history” and, in particular, black American athlete Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936.
“Here in 1936, on this track, one of the most brutal regimes in history was confronted by one of the bravest and most courageous athletes in history, Jesse Owens,” Mr Shriver said. “And there has not been an Olympic torch in this stadium in almost 90 years, until tonight.”
Ms Shriver said Germany hosting the competition was a “game changer” for the country and the Special Olympics. However, she also said there remained a “tremendous stigma” towards people with disabilities, in particular in relation to healthcare”.
“They don’t get jobs at the level of other people. They don’t marry, they don’t get included in friendship activities,” she said.
“While we talk about a loneliness epidemic, they knew what that’s like way before the Covid epidemic, they know about isolation... they know about what it’s like not to be seen, not to be valued, and I think that’s something that a lot of people are experiencing now.”
Ms Shriver refused to be drawn on the political situation in the US ahead of the 2024 US presidential election but said her other brother Mark had joined president Biden during his recent visit to Ireland.
“He [Mark] was saying what an incredible experience that president Biden was met with such open arms and was so happy to be on that trip and... seeing the chaplain who had given his own son last rites and who was there in Ireland,” she said.
“It was just like a universal meeting up and so I think it was a great moment for my brother... my cousin Joe [Kennedy], who was on that trip... the [US] envoy to [Northern] Ireland. I think it was obviously a great trip for the president, his family and I think there’ll be plenty of time to talk about the political situation in the United States. I think you can say one thing one day and it changes the next day.”
