He is skating at the track near the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. And he can skate fast. Mihai Arsenie proves that at the 30 meter straight line at the Special Olympics. He wins the gold medal and shows it proudly to the audience and his coaches. But the Romanian with Down syndrome is a man of many talents. Mihai is also a barista, a reporter, a swimmer ánd a member of the board of Special Olympics Romania.
“I want to salute all the athletes here”, says Mihai in between two races. “For me it’s important to discuss and talk about things to make sport participation better for us.” The Romanian tries to have influence on the policymakers by speaking, by listening to other athletes and people and by attending meetings on regularly basics. A few years ago Mihai spoke on stage at a TEDx meeting, stating “I am part of a group that until recently was not accepted by society due to the fact that for them it is harder to learn.”
Athlete perspective
In Berlin he sums up his terms that are always part of his message: “Friendship, hope, love, togetherness and courage.” Mihai can tell other members of the board what the vision of the athletes is, he can show them what the athlete perspective is. That is off course very important. He can discuss with them and bring ideas into the board. Ideas he has talked about with his fellow athletes at the club. “We are at a social club, where we do all sorts of things. We have different activities and we are doing sports.”
At the club Mihai is trained to be leader of the athletes. “I try to say to everyone, especially the younger people, to eat healthier and to keep moving every day.” The Romanian has already got experience at bigger tournaments as well. He was in LA at the Youth Summit and competed as a swimmer in Belgium at the European championships. “But I like roller skating more, because I can go much faster. I’m doing it for almost three years now. It’s great to be in Berlin. Although these tracks are really different compared to the tracks I usually skate at in Romania. We are skating indoors now, I am used to an outdoor track. But it’s fun, also to see all the other athletes from around the world”
And back home in Romania Mihai surely continues discussing how things can go forward from his perspective, striving for more inclusion and delivering his message of hope and love. As a member of the board, as an athlete, as a reporter and as a barista. Don’t be surprised if you’re getting your cappuccino from Mihai, with a milky heart on top of it.
