May-Treanor stayed for a good half hour after Saturday morning\u2019s Breakfast of Champions, posing for pictures and signing autographs long after most of the other guests of honor had departed. <\/span>Then on Sunday, she was in the Pyramid (where her jersey is the most recent to be retired) handing out medals to the more than 300 competitors, not seeking out reporters but rather giving her time to volunteers and athletes, talking to everyone that approached her. <\/span>She gave each athlete a smile, and a high five. \u201cThey\u2019ve made me a better person and athlete just being involved with this,\u201d she told us. <\/span>May-Treanor\u2019s relationship with the Special Olympics goes back to 2000, when she was still young in her beach career. <\/span>\u201cI was asked to pass out medals at the volleyball event in the Fall games at Riverside,\u201d she said. <\/span>\u201cI drove out there and passed them out, and I just wanted to do it every year.\u201d A successful career kept her traveling through some of the events she wanted to make, but May-Treanor says there are still a number of athletes she sees every time she volunteers. <\/span>\u201cSeeing the same faces, I feel like I have friends here, even though I\u2019ve been in and out. <\/span>It\u2019s just such a great organization, what they do for the kids and the families.\u201d And the former Long Beach State player and adopted Long Beach spokesperson says this city is the perfect place to hold the Summer Games. <\/span>\u201cThe whole city of Long Beach is about community, it\u2019s a perfect fit having it here. <\/span>And Long Beach State is such a great facility for sports, it\u2019s great to have it centrally located, with the Pyramid as a background.\u201d On Sunday, while passing out medals, May-Treanor saw a girl dancing on the podium and broke into a boogie with her reminiscent of the Gatorade ad, which was seen by millions of people last night\u2014this dance was a little more private, a moment shared between two competitors, both of them laughing. <\/span>That same note of genuine truth was in her voice when she explained how she saw her relationship with the athletes. <\/span>\u201cWe\u2019re all Olympians. <\/span>We all share the common goal of sport, and wanting to have fun and compete.\u201d May-Treanor points out her retired jersey in the Pyramid while handing out medals<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May-Treanor took a moment out of volunteering at the games to talk to us about what they mean to 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