1 . I am a champion. I have won medals in three different sports and was proud to represent Canada at the international level in basketball. I _______ five days a week, working with top quality coaches and mental performance consultants to be at my _______ in my sport. By the way, all that is _______ the Special Olympics.

I was born with a(n) _______ disability. The older I got, the _______ it became for me to keep up with everyone else. _______ I joined in the Special Olympics, I was shy, not confident and didn’t have many friends so I felt _______. When I got there, _______, everyone was very encouraging, supportive, and let me be myself without being _______. Now, I have ________ it all the way to the World Games. Being a Special Olympics athlete ________ my pride and dignity.

I’m here giving this talk not because I’m a ________ case. I am here because there is still a big ________ with the way many people treat people like me. The world does not ________ us as champions. Not long ago, we were ________ and hidden away. And in too many cases, people with intellectual disabilities like me are ________ to the wider population.

I am here today to challenge you to look at us as ________. I am no longer hidden and bullied. Now, I have dreams and achievements in my sport and I am ________ a career as a personal trainer. I would like to leave you with one final thought. “Sports have the ________ to change the world.” The Special Olympics are giving us a place to be confident, meet friends and get to feel like and ________ champions.

2 . Thomas Panek made history this week when he became the first blind person to complete the New York City Half Marathon with guide dogs and no human assistance.

With about two thousand people around _______ the game, a group of blind people _________their New York City Marathon at 9:00 this Wednesday. _______ it was still a little cold as it was raining _______, the people without their sight ran fast with the help of their _________. Falling down sometimes, they _________ up and went on running, which was attractive, _______ and encouraging.

Of course, some few dogs didn't _________their hosts in the right way. As a result, those _______ didn’t finish their task, but they were really________ . In the end, only about twenty blind people ________ their destination. Among them, Panek did the __________, who got the first place in the game.

With the ________ of his three dogs named Waffle, Westley and Gus, which __________ leading him throughout the 13.1-mile race, Panek ________ the finishing line in just over 2 hours 20 minutes.

The game __________ at about 12:00, and many people were so __________ by the sport spirit of the blind people that they were not __________ to leave the spot. When asked about his feeling of the game, “no matter what __________ is, " said Panek, 48, who is CEO of Guiding Eyes for the Blind, "don't let __________ tell you that you can't."