Loretta Claiborne is an African-American global speaker who competes in the Special Olympics. She also won the Arthur Ashe ESPY award for courage presented to her by Denzel Washington.

Loretta Claiborne was born in York, Pennsylvania, with a twisted foot. She had to walk on braces, and couldn't talk until the age of five. Even so, she eventually learned.

Due to her disabilities, Claiborne faced discrimination from other students at the schools she attended. Many a time she lost her temper, and always retaliated, which got her into frequent fights that resulted in expulsion from high school and her workplace. Additionally, she was despised by her older sister.

At one point in her life (it is not known by this editor when) her mentor, Janet, convinced Claiborne to become involved with the Special Olympics, despite Claiborne's original protests, due to her running abilities.

Claiborne competed in 6 Special Olympics World Games, although she didn't travel for a year to aid her mother, who eventually died.

Claiborne's records follow (although this information is doubted due to a lack of citations as well as a prior comment of only 6 games in which Claiborne competed):

YEAR----MEDAL----EVENT

1983----Gold-----Mile Run

1991----Gold-----13 Mile Half-Marathon

1991----Silver---5k Run

1995----Gold-----Singles Bowling

1995----Gold-----Mixed Doubles Bowling

1999----Gold-----13 Mile Run

1999----Silver---3k Run

2003----Gold-----3k Run

2003----Bronze---Mile Run

2005----Silver---Figure Skating

Claiborne has also been chosen to compete at the 2009 Winter World Games to be held in Boise, Idaho for figure skating.

Claiborne has a black belt in karate among her many honors. Claiborne also won the Arthur Ashe award for courage at the ESPY awards, and received two honorary doctorate degrees from two different colleges (the specific colleges are not known to this re-editor.) Claiborne is the first person with a developmental disability to have attained such an honor.

Claiborne has run over 25 marathons, including the Boston marathon twice. She has participated in the Special Olympics since 1970, and continues to train in running, figure skating, soccer, skiing, golf, basketball, softball, swimming, and bowling.

Claiborne was the recipient of the 1981 Spirit of the Special Olympics award. She was also named the 1988 state athlete of the year, and the 1990 international athlete of the year. Claiborne is a member of the Special Olympics Pennsylvania Board of Directors, and was a member of the Special Olympics Inc. Board of Directors.

In 1991, Runner's World magazine named her the "Special Olympics athlete of the Quarter-Century."

Eventually, her story became the focus of a movie (Title unknown by this editor, although it is assumed to be the same Disney Channel story mentioned later).

Loretta Claiborne is a member of the Special Olympics Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, the York Hall of Fame, Penn High School Alumni Hall of Fame, National Girls and Women Sports Hall of Fame, and Women in Sports Hall of Fame. (Editor's note: Some of these organizations sound falsified by the original unknown writer.)

She is a recipient of the Billie Jean King Pioneer Award, and the Giant Steps award. Loretta Claiborne also has a building named after her in York, Pennsylvania.

Claiborne also learned Russian. (Editor's note-the same shmuck who cleaned this up for you: This was stuck in somewhere in the middle. I didn't see the relevance at that point, and I still don't. However, enjoy this random tidbit of unverified information.)

Editor's final note (I promise): If you happened to come across this page while trying to finish a stupid online homework assignment, I don't think you'll have much luck. I tried this, and all I discovered was a really badly written, biased, page. Enjoy.

Kimberly Elise portrays her in the Disney Channel original movie, "The Loretta Claiborne Story".

• Loretta Claiborne Official Site