Tucker’s Olympic Past and Present

Olympic fever has struck the world as Paris hosts the 2024 games this month. Elite athletes from across the globe compete for the highest decoration in their specialty sports while the regular populace watch with baited breath as Olympic and world records are chased.

Tucker has an interesting history with the Olympics, namely back in 1996 when Atlanta hosted the Summer Olympics. The USA Women’s Gymnastics team, also known as the Magnificent Seven, used the Tucker Recreation Center as their training gym leading up to the competition. A closely guarded secret at the time, it is now a point of pride for the Tucker community and the recreation center.

THE OLYMPICS AND TUCKER TODAY…

Hosting the Olympics requires years of preparation and an amount of money that does not allow for multiple opportunities for hosting. But Tucker does see its fair share of Olympians via the Special Olympics. The DeKalb County School District partners with the Special Olympics to train and host local skills training and competitions and the City of Tucker plays host at the pickleball courts and tennis courts at Henderson Park, as well as the baseball diamonds at Kelley Cofer Park.

The Dekalb County School District has around 2,000 intellectually disabled students enrolled. As part of the curriculum, Physical Education is taught by travelling adaptive PE teachers. Three of these specialized teachers coordinate the training and local Special Olympic competitions in DeKalb. With decades of combined experience, Kimberly Skalku, Ava Moore and Tucker native, Carey Allison, serve DeKalb’s students through adaptive PE classes and leading the students in various events for the Special Olympics.

The three teachers teach skills clinics in preparation for an upcoming event. Students first compete in local events, then in area events and state level competitions. Each class gets to pick which sport they would like to learn in clinic: pickleball, softball, gymnastics, bowling, swimming or basketball, with bowling being the current top choice. Participation in the competitions is free for the students.

HOW TUCKER GIVES BACK…

In early May, Kelley Cofer Park was the site of the DeKalb Special Olympic softball skills competition. Athletes were scored on batting, throwing, catching and running bases and received cheers from spectators in the stands, accolades from their peers and ribbons to award their tenacity and spirit. These events are also an opportunity for local teens to volunteer. For the skills competition at Cofer Park, the Tucker High School tennis team was on hand to guide the athletes to each skill, hand out award ribbons and have fun.

When the students compete in the state events, they can opt to have a unified competition. Each athlete is paired with a general education student, the two each perform the skill and their scores are combined. Pictured below are three Tucker Middle School students with their Special Olympic partners at the Special Olympic State Gymnastics competition. Together they won.

While the world focuses on the elite athletes in Paris, Tucker is focusing on our own special Olympians.

To learn more about the Special Olympics and how to support our local athletes visit specialolympics.org.