With 50 days to go to the opening ceremony, Rosita Boland looks at the couple who are running the Special Olympics in Dublin.
When Mary Davis, chief executive officer of the Special Olympics World Summer Games, arrives in Croke Park on June 21st, it will be the shortest journey to an opening ceremony she has ever made: for the first time in its 30-year history, the Special Olympics World Summer Games are being held outside the US.
As CEO, Mary Davis is the person with ultimate responsibility for the running of this year's games, which will cost €57 million, and involve 38,000 athletes, coaches and families. It is the biggest sporting event in the world this year, and a major logistical challenge. However, Mary Davis has the luxury of knowing that, when she goes home in the evenings from her base office at Park House on the North Circular Road, she doesn't have to explain the countdown towards June 21st to her husband. That's because it's Julian Davis's job to know exactly what the latest updates are: he is media relations director for the Irish games, based at the Fleishman-Hillard Saunders office at Fitzwilliam Quay.
The Davis's involvement in Special Olympics goes back a remarkable quarter of a century - Mary Davis has attended nine opening ceremonies. They first attended the games in 1978, in upstate New York, when the Irish delegation of athletes numbered just 16, and the profile of Special Olympics in this country was modest.
The first games took place in Chicago in 1968, founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver as an international sporting event for people with a learning disability. This year, almost four decades on, the number of participating Irish athletes is 436. The public support and recognition the games have received since Ireland's successful bid to host the games has ensured that the Special Olympics was firmly established in the public consciousness long before the current debate surfaced about whether or not to admit delegations from SARS-affected countries.
Each time it is staged, the event has had its own atmosphere and markers; it remains to be seen what impression Ireland will leave with the delegations arriving in June, but it will certainly be a different one to previous games. Mary Davis points out that, prior to this year, it was always a US state that organised the games, thus making it a regional occasion, but this time it will be a national event. Also, this is the first time local communities have been fully involved in hosting and entertaining delegations. The Irish delegation will get its chance to go on holiday at home: its members are being hosted at Celbridge, Leixlip, Lucan and Kilcock.
However, with only 45 days to go before the delegations arrive in Ireland, it's the ongoing concern about SARS which is looking like defining the run-up to the games; an unexpected and unwelcome issue for its CEO to deal with. It also means there is no set schedule these days for Mary Davis.
On Thursday, her working day began at 7.30 a.m. with a meeting at Park House with key directors of the games; SARS was discussed. At the Conrad Hotel, she recorded a radio interview with Derek Mooney of RTÉ, for a documentary series he is making on the Special Olympics. She then travelled to Cork for a meeting with regional staff and host town volunteers. En route, RTÉ's Prime Time asked her to appear on that evening's show, to respond to questions on SARS, fielded by Brian Farrell. She did a live link-up that evening from the Cork studio.
Mary Davis, nee Rooney, grew up in Mayo, between Kiltimagh and Swinford. Public service was always part of family life: her father was the local garda and, at one point, three of her brothers were in the force. Julian Davis was born in England, but grew up between Tipperary and Dublin. Both trained as physical education teachers; Julian in Thomond College, Limerick, and Mary in Leeds University, which she followed with a year's scholarship to Alberta. Now married for 23 years, they first met in Dublin in the 1970s, when they were both working with St Michael's House - a day-care organisation for people with learning disabilities, which has 22 centres in the greater Dublin area.
Mary Davis remained working at St Michael's for nine years, until her appointment as director of Special Olympics Ireland, which she still holds; she is currently on leave from that post.
Julian was head-hunted to RTÉ television's sports department, where he presented Let's Go for a year before working as a sub-editor for high-profile programmes such as The Sunday Game.
"A lot of people think they must have some family connection with the Special Olympics because of their long-term commitment and passion for the games," remarks Marian Murphy, who works on the global development of the Special Olympics, and is both a family friend of the Davis's and godmother to their daughter, Rebecca. "But they don't have any personal connection. So, in a way, people thinking they must have, is probably their greatest compliment."
Julian Davis left broadcasting to go into PR, with RTÉ ex-colleague John Saunders. In 1990, he joined the Irish arm of international PR company, Fleishman-Hillard Saunders, where Saunders is managing director. Now a director of the company, he is a member of its marketing communications team. In 2001, Fleishman International took ownership of the Irish company. As one of its directors and shareholders, Julian Davis was a beneficiary of the €7.6 million buy-out, although this does not appear to have changed the Davis's lifestyle. They continue to live in their Sutton family home, and do not own a holiday house.
Fleishman is one of the games' official suppliers, and has volunteered its PR services. For the last six months, it has been Julian's main job.
The couple have always been sports-mad: Mary is a member of Malahide golf club and Julian a member of Luttrellstown. He also has a softball passion. Every January, they take a family skiing holiday, usually in the US. Friends are keen to praise the "soundness" of their family life; all four children, ranging in age from 13 to 20, live at home, and they have a wide network of friends. Mary has always nurtured a keen interest in antiques and paintings. Next year, both husband and wife turn 50.
Murphy cites the Davis's public and private partnership as one of the "huge strengths" of this year's games.
The Special Olympics has enjoyed considerable State support, both financially and on a goodwill basis, particularly in the Departments of sports, health and education. It was one of the reasons Ireland won the bid ahead of Argentina and some US states, along with an assurance of reaching the necessary volunteer target of 30,000 - which is now over-subscribed.
Mary Davis has built up a large network of contacts over the last few years, which should serve her well when she considers her options after the Games. She will already have scaled one real mountain by that time though: husband and wife are planning to climb Kilimanjaro this autumn.