Father of Special Olympian speaks out…. By Steven QuinnSteven.quinn@finnvalleypost.com The father of a Special Olympian, who won a silver medal in last year’s Shanghai games, has described any decision not to send athletes to this summer’s Olympics as “disastrous.”Glenfin man Michael Gallagher, whose daughter Marion (21) came second in the 400-meter walk competition last October, has spoken out against any decision to boycott the games as a form of protest against recent violence in Tibet.Mr Gallagher said: “I’m very surprised to hear that this issue could prevent athletes competing at the games and that they should be blamed for it.”There are young people who have been training for the past four or eight years and now a lot of countries like America and France are trying to boycott the games; this isn’t hurting those countries but their young athletes,” he claimed.In 1980 the Moscow Olympics were marred by the biggest boycott in the games’ history as several major countries refused to compete in the Soviet Union after its invasion of Afghanistan. After last month’s violent protest in Tibet there has been talk of boycotting this summer’s games.Mr. Gallagher sides firmly with those of the opinion that any boycott would be widely regretted. Michael said that his time spent in China last summer was a hugely enjoyable one.”It’s a fact now that Irish people are well liked over there, the people were very nice to me and the family, I think the Chinese could do something very special and this summer could be very memorable,” he added.