Dr Geoff Smedley
It is with great sadness that we inform you that Dr Geoff Smedley passed away on Thursday the 26th March after contracting the COVID 19 virus.
Geoff dedicated a great deal of his life to promoting and developing international sporting events for athletes with Down Syndrome, initially being one of the founders of Sports Union for Down Syndrome (SU-DS) and more recently President of both, SU-DS and the Down Syndrome International Swimming Organisation (DSISO).
The original founders of Special 21 invited Geoff to the Algarve, Portugal in 2016, to see at first hand our project, including the our ‘dive into the future’ programme for adapted school children, touring all the sporting facilities and meeting the then Mayor of Albufeira, the late Carlos Eduardo Silva e Sousa.
Geoff immediately became one of our biggest supporters, as he fully shared our goals and aspirations, by promoting our project ideals with other countries and lobbing the International Paralympics Committee.
Albufeira won the global bidding process resulting in the award of the DSISO 2022 World Championships with Geoff ensuring that all bids received equal recognition.
Geoff’s departure from this life will only strengthen our desire to gain recognition from the International Paralympics Committee for those worldwide elite swimmers with Down Syndrome.
Rest in peace dear friend.
Special 21 project team
Algarve Portugal
