Pride of Place

The SpecialOlympics movement is an easy sell, according to one official, because so manypeople who come in contact with it are moved by the experience. Lynn Johnson isno exception. She photographed the statewide Summer Games in New Jersey andOhio for SI earlier this year, and her work appears below and on previouspages. In these portraits of medal winners from those Games, she captured thepride in achievement that is common to all humanity. "I think that sportbrings out the intensity in everyone," says Johnson. "You could seetheir drive, and you could see how aware and how invested the athletes are,just as every athlete is invested."

AHMAD ZAMAN | 29| TRACK & FIELD

JOANNE PAVLIK |55 | BOCCE

GARRETT THOMPSON| 18 | TRACK & FIELD

LARRY HUNTER | 24| POWERLIFTING

ALYSSA BOHNER |13 | SWIMMING

JAMES HERNANDEZ |27 | TRACK & FIELD

KATIE HEDRICK |20 | GYMNASTICS

STEVEN SCIAN | 24| BOCCE

JOENIQUA BARTHEL| 12 | TRACK & FIELD

JAMES KELLY | 51| TRACK & FIELD

JASON WISE | 16 |TRACK & FIELD

ELEVEN PHOTOS

Photographs by Lynn Johnson