Four Northern Kentucky athletes and one coach have been named to the Team Kentucky delegation that will participate in the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games next June in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Fort Mitchell’s Chris Revay will be part of the Team Kentucky golf contingent. Daniel Hewitt of Erlanger will compete with the Team Kentucky Unified Basketball team. Maddie Brinkman of Union and Carmen Widener of Burlington will both swim at the USA Games.
Fort Wright’s Debbie Ogden will be the Team Kentucky swimming coach.
Revay, 49, will be joining Team Kentucky for his second USA Games. He played in the 18-hole Individual Stroke Play event at the first USA Games in Iowa in 2006, placing 4th in his flight. He will play in the 9-hole Individual Stroke Play event in 2026. Revay has been a Special Olympics athlete for 30 years. He has competed in nearly every sport that the program offers. On the track, Revay was a regular in the pentathlon – a grueling one-day, five-event competition – for many years and won it several times.
In addition to his USA Games experience, Revay played golf at the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games in North Carolina, claiming the silver medal in the Tournament’s top flight. Revay also competed at the 1995 world Games, winning a gold medal in soccer with a team from Northern Kentucky. Chris has also competed in several National Invitational Golf Tournaments. At the 2000 National Invitational, he became the first player ever to record a hole in one in an official Special Olympics competition.
He is a Special Olympics Kentucky Athlete Ambassador and works at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Edgewood.
Hewitt, 28, will be competing in the USA Games for the first time. He has been involved in Special Olympics for 11 years competing in softball, bowling, flag football and soccer in addition to basketball. He is the only Northern Kentuckian on the Unified basketball team. The rest of the team is based out of Louisville. He is a graduate of Special Olympics Kentucky’s Athlete Leadership Program and serves as an Athlete Ambassador. He works at Kroger in Independence.
Brinkman, 25, returns to the USA Games for the second time after an incredible debut on the national stage in Orlando in 2022. Brinkman grabbed medals in each of her three events including individual gold in the 50-yard backstroke and team gold in the 4×50-yard medley relay. She earned a bronze in the 50-yard freestyle. She has been a Special Olympics athlete for 8 years, competing in track, softball and bowling in addition to swimming. Brinkman is also an Athlete Ambassador for the program. She works for Year-Round Partner Texas Roadhouse in Florence.
Widener, 19, will be making her first trip to the USA Games. She got her start in Special Olympics at 7 years old in the Young Athletes Program and competed in track before switching her focus to swimming. Widener is a graduate of Cooper High School where she was a member of the school’s swim team.
Ogden will be coaching Team Kentucky swimmers at her third straight USA Games. In that time, her athletes have won 15 medals including four golds. The 2022 Special Olympics Kentucky Coach of the Year, Ogden was also selected as the Special Olympics USA Head Swimming Coach for the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin. She has been a Special Olympics coach for 19 years but has been working with individuals with intellectual disabilities for nearly 40 years. She heads the Northern Kentucky Dolphins Special Olympics swimming program and serves on the Special Olympics Kentucky Swimming Sport Development Committee.
In addition to Special Olympics coaching, Ogden has also coached the Ludlow/Bromley swim and dive team, the St. Agnes School track and field team and the St. Agnes School fifth grade volleyball team in Fort Wright. She is the Senior Executive Assistant in the Development Department at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati.
Special Olympics Kentucky will send 37 athletes, eight Unified partners, 18 coaches, two caddies and one adult mentor to the Games. Kentucky athletes will compete in artistic gymnastics, bocce, bowling, flag football, golf, swimming, track and field and – for the second consecutive USA Games – Unified basketball. Athletes representing 20 different counties are on the rosters, including the first athletes ever to represent Garrard, Muhlenberg, Spencer and Washington Counties. In addition to the sports events, Team Kentucky will include a trio participating in the Youth Leadership Experience for the third time.
“We’re so excited to have the opportunity to send such an outstanding group to the USA Games,” said Special Olympics Kentucky CEO Angie Cruse-Tinch. “The USA Games gives our athletes a unique opportunity to show their abilities on a national stage as well as to make friends from across the country. I’m personally excited to experience the USA Games for the first time and cheer on this great group. We’re also looking forward to the new look for Team Kentucky and seeing these athletes take the field in uniforms that truly represent our entire state.”
The total cost of sending Team Kentucky to the 2026 USA Games is expected to approach $100,000. For information about how you can help sponsor the team or to donate, contact Angie Cruse-Tinch at 502-695-8222 or atinch@soky.org.
The 2026 USA Games are the sixth such games in Special Olympics history. Past USA Games were held in 2006 in Ames, Iowa; 2010 in Lincoln, Neb.; in 2014 in New Jersey; 2018 in Seattle, Wash., and 2022 in Orlando, Fla.
The 2026 Special Olympics USA Games will take place from June 20-26, 2026. They will include more than 3,000 athletes and 1,500 coaches representing all 50 states. The event will be supported by a dedicated team of 10,000 volunteers.