Monday Sport Blast From The Past
Gordon Llewellyn is a name you have probably never heard off but he played a pivotal role in the birth of the Special Olympics movement in New Zealand.
In 1983, he and three other Hutt athletes – Colin Bailey, Peter Spijkerman and Brent Busby – made history when they attended the Summer Special Olympics in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The trip was organised by Grant Quinn, who later said Gordon Llewellyn proved the perfect poster boy for the Special Olympics movement in New Zealand.
Llewellyn was a larger than life character with a bold personality and a fascination with the TV character Magnum PI.
Years later Quinn recalled the flight over and an announcement that came over the intercom.
"This is your captain speaking … I have a very special passenger with me in the cockpit. His name is Gordon Llewellyn from New Zealand."
Llewellyn quickly took over the microphone and proceeded to entertain the whole plane.
"Next minute Gordon was asking, or should I say demanding, that everybody on board give the team a rousing three cheers to wish the team a successful time in Baton Rouge," recalled Quinn.
The team performed well at the Olympics and athletes returned home heroes, proudly wearing their medals for weeks to make sure nobody missed their success.
Llewellyn died in August 2014 and Quinn gave the eulogy. He told mourners that Llewellyn and the other three Hutt swimmers had changed the public's perception of the intellectually disabled.
They had helped win mainstream acceptance and played a key role in promoting an organisation that now had more than 7000 active members.
Poll: Could we live without public bins?
Many public rubbish bins are being removed by councils due to the large costs of regularly emptying them. Do you think we can adapt and live without them?
Type 'Not For Print' if you wish your comments to be excluded from the We Say You Say column of your local paper.
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12% Yes
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87.4% No
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0.5% Other - I'll share below
ALAN BATES VS THE POST OFFICE
Did you watch the episodes?
What are the lessons to be learned from this tragedy?
One thing that struck me was that each postmaster/postmistress was told: " You are the ONLY ONE having a problem," and everyone believed it.
It was only years later, Alan Bates was forced to organize a group!
And then the "Sunday" program dropped the bombshell from an expert about the security systems in NZ Banks and the UK. She said, the contrast between the two systems is like night and day !!
Are the banks taking advantage of us customers who have no common voice?
Are you a first home buyer?
Hello!
Are you a first home buyer? Is your mortgage going up and up with rising interest rates and you’re now struggling to make ends meet? Have you lost the ability to save any extra cash?
We’re reaching out from the Tova show, the flagship weekly politics podcast on Stuff, as we prepare a special episode on the interest rate crunch and how it’s affecting Kiwis - we’d love to hear your stories.
Please comment below if you would like to share your story, or email tova@stuff.co.nz. We give you our commitment to treat your experience with sensitivity and care.
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