Ejercicio A · Inglés PAU Madrid Ordinaria Martes 2021

TEXTO A

The Special Olympics

Over 50 years ago, Eunice Kennedy Shriver saw how unjustly people with intellectual disabilities were treated and that many children didn’t even have a place to play. She decided to take action and held a summer day camp for young people with intellectual disabilities in her own backyard. In this camp, these young people could participate in sports and physical activities, focusing on what they could do, and not on what they couldn’t do. This was a revolutionary idea at the time.

In 1968, 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities from the USA and Canada competed in the first Special Olympics International Summer Games in Chicago. There, over 200 events were offered – from 100-yard swim to high jump, water polo and floor hockey. The event was so successful that Eunice assured that more games would be held as a “Biennial International Special Olympics”.

The event has grown to become an international competition. In 2003, for the first time, it went to another country, Ireland. Initially, the organisers didn’t expect it, but nearly every country wanted to host the competing nations and their athletes. Ireland took the Olympic Games to its heart. There were around ten thousand volunteers and people came out in the hundreds of thousands to enjoy the spectacle and cheer on the athletes. Any barriers that had existed before between those with and without intellectual disabilities broke down then.

Sport brings people together. Nevertheless, it seldom brings out the levels of shared empathy and joy as the Special Olympics does, being a force for good, change, and unity. It has been celebrated every two years in seven different countries so far and is usually the largest sports and humanitarian event in the world that year.

Adapted from “Special Olympics History,” Special Olympics, November 28, 2020. <https://www.specialolympics.org/about/history>

QUESTIONS

A.1.- Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE.

(Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

a)

Athletes from all over the world took part in competitions in the Olympic event held in the late 60s.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

When the US organisers decided to celebrate the event abroad for the first time, they were surprised to find that most countries wanted to host the Games.

TRUE

FALSE

A.2.- In your own words and based on the ideas in the text, answer the following questions. Do not copy from the text.

(Puntuación máxima: 2 puntos)

a)

Why did Eunice decide to hold a summer day camp in her backyard?

b)

What was the reaction of Irish people to the Special Olympic Games they held?