Westside : Special Challenges for Some Special Olympians

They may not bear the names Carl Lewis or Jackie Joyner Kersee, but the teen-agers at Camp Bloomfield are Olympians in their own right.

About 130 blind or visually impaired athletes from across the United States came together Wednesday to compete in the annual Olympics Day event at the camp in Malibu.

They raced 100-yard dashes, swam relays, hurled their bodies over the high-jump bar, hobbled along in three-legged races and fought one another in tug-of-war contests. For most of the competitors, the victory came not in winning but in participating.

“Whether you win or lose, you’re still a winner,” said Martha Griffin, 15, from Nevada. “Everyone here has a disability, but we’re still winners.”

Camp Bloomfield is a getaway spot operated by the Foundation for the Junior Blind, a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles that runs programs for visually impaired children and adults. The camp is hidden in the hills west of Malibu near the Ventura County line.

Many of the campers, ages 13 to 18, say the experience is the highlight of their summer. Some travel thousands of miles to attend.

Olympics Day is just one of many day and evening activities at Camp Bloomfield. One afternoon last week, the campers traded their woodsy environment for a roller-skating rink. They also hike and bike by day, and sometimes dance until the wee hours of the morning.

Like all camp activities, Olympics Day offers a chance for the youngsters to challenge themselves. Visual impairments prevent many of them from playing sports at school, they say.

At Camp Bloomfield, campers say, they can try new things without the fear of ridicule.

“There’s not a lot of people picking on you,” said Andrea Annand, 14, of Whittier. “I put no one down, and they don’t put me down.”