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‘A fairy-tale ending’: Kansas City-area couple wins gold at Special Olympics in Orlando

Ali Brown, left, and Patrick Brown trained recently at a local gym to prepare for the Special Olympics USA. Last week, their dreams became a reality as Patrick won the 200-meter dash and Ali also won gold at the 4x100 swim relay at the national competition in Orlando. The married couple, who both have Asperger’s Syndrome, trained five days a week — often alone because of the pandemic. Pushing through doubt, Patrick and Ali said they relied on each other to get through the hard work.
Ali Brown, left, and Patrick Brown trained recently at a local gym to prepare for the Special Olympics USA. Last week, their dreams became a reality as Patrick won the 200-meter dash and Ali also won gold at the 4x100 swim relay at the national competition in Orlando. The married couple, who both have Asperger’s Syndrome, trained five days a week — often alone because of the pandemic. Pushing through doubt, Patrick and Ali said they relied on each other to get through the hard work. Rich Sugg rsugg@kcstar.com

Patrick and Ali Brown circled the Special Olympics USA Games in June 2022 on their calendars almost a year and a half ago.

Last week, their dreams became a reality as Patrick won the 200-meter dash and Ali also won gold at the 4x100 swim relay at the national competition in Orlando.

The married couple, who both have Asperger’s Syndrome, trained five days a week — often alone because of the pandemic. Pushing through doubt, Patrick and Ali said they relied on each other to get through the hard work.

But when the two, who competed for Kansas in different groups, touched down in Orlando on June 4, Patrick and Ali quickly found out that they wouldn’t be spending much time together. Rules and restrictions meant they could barely see each other.

Ali Brown trained recently at a local gym to prepare for the Special Olympics USA. Last week she won gold in the 4x100 swim relay, while her husband, Patrick, won the 200-meter dash. The couple, who both have Asperger’s Syndrome, trained five days a week — often alone because of the pandemic. Pushing through doubt, Patrick and Ali said they relied on each other to get through the hard work.
Ali Brown trained recently at a local gym to prepare for the Special Olympics USA. Last week she won gold in the 4x100 swim relay, while her husband, Patrick, won the 200-meter dash. The couple, who both have Asperger’s Syndrome, trained five days a week — often alone because of the pandemic. Pushing through doubt, Patrick and Ali said they relied on each other to get through the hard work. Rich Sugg rsugg@kcstar.com

“We got to spend maybe five minutes a morning together at breakfast,” Patrick said.

Ali agreed it was frustrating. But with some motivation from their team captains, the two focused on going for the gold.

The morning before he competed in the 200-meter dash, Patrick took a moment to himself before breakfast on the balcony of his resort.

“It was a calm moment,” Patrick said. “I took this picture on my phone of the whole resort. Nobody was around, and I said. ‘Something special is going to happen today.’”

Then, Patrick, who works at KMBC9 as the camera operator on the station’s news chopper, won the 200 a few hours later, jumping out to an early lead that he would never give up.

After the win, he was interviewed by ESPN, and he called the win and his subsequent celebration with his team as a moment he’ll always look back on fondly.

Patrick Brown trained recently at a local gym to prepare for the Special Olympics USA in Orlando. Last week he won gold in the 200-meter-dash, while his wife, Ali, too the gold in the 4x100 swim relay. The couple, who both have Asperger’s Syndrome, trained five days a week — often alone because of the pandemic. Pushing through doubt, Patrick and Ali said they relied on each other to get through the hard work.
Patrick Brown trained recently at a local gym to prepare for the Special Olympics USA in Orlando. Last week he won gold in the 200-meter-dash, while his wife, Ali, too the gold in the 4x100 swim relay. The couple, who both have Asperger’s Syndrome, trained five days a week — often alone because of the pandemic. Pushing through doubt, Patrick and Ali said they relied on each other to get through the hard work. Rich Sugg rsugg@kcstar.com

“My team joined me, and they were hugging me and I was jumping up and down,” Patrick said. “It was the craziest thing.”

He still had one more person to celebrate with, however: his wife. The two barely saw each other until they got on the plane headed back to Kansas City on Sunday.

“We just slept,” Ali said.

The couple said they haven’t really celebrated since they got back — instead, they’ve been trying to get some rest after a hectic eight days in Orlando.

But there’s always more competitions on the horizon for Patrick and Ali, who plan to continue competing and possibly switch to other sports.

Ali Brown trained recently at a local gym to prepare for the Special Olympics USA in Orlando. Last week she won gold in the 4x100 swim relay, while her husband, Patrick, won the 200-meter dash. The couple, who both have Asperger’s Syndrome, trained five days a week — often alone because of the pandemic. Pushing through doubt, Patrick and Ali said they relied on each other to get through the hard work.
Ali Brown trained recently at a local gym to prepare for the Special Olympics USA in Orlando. Last week she won gold in the 4x100 swim relay, while her husband, Patrick, won the 200-meter dash. The couple, who both have Asperger’s Syndrome, trained five days a week — often alone because of the pandemic. Pushing through doubt, Patrick and Ali said they relied on each other to get through the hard work. Rich Sugg rsugg@kcstar.com

“Maybe baseball, softball, volleyball and track,” Ali said. “I just wanted to try (swimming) out and see if I could get something.”

She got more than something: winning gold in one of the final events of the week-long competition.

“We enjoyed every minute of it,” Patrick said. “It was a long week, but when Ali won the relay, we sort of closed the book on the whole ‘fairy-tale ending.’”

This story was originally published June 19, 2022 at 5:00 AM.

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