Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with
intellectual disabilities
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...
and
physical disabilities
A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epileps ...
, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Olympics competitions are held every day, all around the world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to more than 100,000 events a year.
Like the
International Paralympic Committee
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...
, the Special Olympics organization is recognized by the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
; however, unlike the Paralympic Games, Special Olympics World Games are not held in the same year nor in conjunction with the Olympic Games.
The
Special Olympics World Games
The Special Olympics World Games also known as Special Olympiad are an international sporting event for participants with intellectual disabilities, organized by the IOC-recognised Special Olympics organization.
Principles
Although local Spec ...
is a major event put on by the Special Olympics committee. The World Games alternate between summer and winter games, in two-year cycles, recurring every fourth year. The first games were held on July 20, 1968, in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Illinois, with about 1000 athletes from the U.S. and Canada. At those first games, honorary event chair
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver (July 10, 1921 – August 11, 2009) was an American philanthropist and a member of the Kennedy family. She was the founder of the Special Olympics, a sports organization for persons with physical and intellectual disa ...
announced the formation of the Special Olympics organization. International participation expanded in subsequent games. In 2003, the first summer games held outside the United States were in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ireland with 7000 athletes from 150 countries. The most recent World Summer Games were held in
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
, United Arab Emirates, from March 14 to 21, 2019. This was the first Special Olympics World Games held in the Middle East. The next World Summer Games will be held in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, Germany, between June 16 to 25, 2023. This will be the first time for Germany to host the Special Olympics World Games.
The first World Winter Games were held in 1977 in
Steamboat Springs, Colorado, US.
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
hosted the first Winter Games outside the United States in 1993. The most recent Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
,
Schladming
Schladming is a small former mining town in the northwest of the Austrian state of Styria that is now a popular tourist destination. It has become a large winter-sports resort and has held various skiing competitions, including most notably the F ...
and
Ramsau, Austria, from March 14, 2017, to March 25, 2017 (see also
2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games). During the World Winter Games of 2013 in
Pyeongchang
Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...
,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, the first Special Olympics Global Development Summit was held on "Ending the Cycle of Poverty and Exclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities", gathering government officials, activists and business leaders from around the world.
History
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver (July 10, 1921 – August 11, 2009) was an American philanthropist and a member of the Kennedy family. She was the founder of the Special Olympics, a sports organization for persons with physical and intellectual disa ...
believed that mentally handicapped people could be happy and live meaningful lives. When her mother took her sister,
Rosemary
''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...
, to a doctor, they were told that Rosemary’s situation was hopeless. Eunice founded the Special Olympics to positively change the public’s attitude towards mentally handicapped people. In June 1963,
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver (July 10, 1921 – August 11, 2009) was an American philanthropist and a member of the Kennedy family. She was the founder of the Special Olympics, a sports organization for persons with physical and intellectual disa ...
started a day camp called Camp Shriver for children with intellectual and physical disabilities at her home in
Potomac, Maryland
Potomac () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, named after the nearby Potomac River. Potomac is the seventh most educated small town in America, based on percentage of residents with postsecondary deg ...
.
The camp sought to address the concern that disabled children had very little opportunity to participate in organised athletic events. With Camp Shriver as an example, Kennedy Shriver, head of the
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation and a member of President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
's Panel on Mental Retardation, promoted the concept of involvement in physical activity and other opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. Camp Shriver became an annual event, and the Kennedy Foundation gave grants to universities, recreation departments, and community centers to hold similar camps.
Also in the early 1960s, Kennedy Shriver wrote an article in the ''
Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...
'', revealing that her sister
Rosemary
''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...
, also President John F. Kennedy's sister, was born with intellectual disabilities. This frank article about the President's family was seen as a "watershed" in changing public attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities. Rosemary's disability provided Kennedy Shriver with an overall vision that people with intellectual disabilities could compete and at the same time unify together in public. It has often been said that Rosemary's disability was Eunice's inspiration to form Special Olympics (as the movement came to be called), but she told ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' in 1995 that that was not exactly the case. "The games should not focus on one individual," she said.
In 1958, Dr. James N. Oliver of England had conducted pioneering research, including a ground-breaking study showing that physical exercise and activities for children with intellectual disabilities had positive effects that also carried over into the classroom ("The Effects of Physical Conditioning Exercises and Activities on the Mental Characteristics of Educationally Sub-Normal Boys, British Journal of Educational Psychology, XXVIII, June 1958). Oliver in 1964 served as a consultant to Camp Shriver.
The 1964 research of Dr.
Frank Hayden, a Canadian physical education professor from London, Ontario, demonstrated that intellectually disabled people can and should participate in physical exercise. He believed that the benefits of such activity would be seen in all areas of the athletes' lives. With the help of a local school that offered space in its gym, Hayden started one of the first public organised sports programs,
floor hockey
Floor hockey is a broad term for several indoor floor game codes which involve two teams using a stick and type of ball or disk. Disks are either open or closed but both designs are usually referred to as "pucks". These games are played either o ...
for individuals with intellectual disabilities, in the fall of 1968. In the mid-1960s, Hayden also developed an idea for national games, and his work brought him to the attention of the Kennedy Foundation. He shared his ideas for national games, while taking a teaching sabbatical and working for the foundation.
The first Special Olympics games were held on July 20, 1968, at
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...
in Chicago. About 1,000 athletes from the U.S. and Canada took part in the one-day event, which was a joint venture by the Kennedy Foundation and the
Chicago Park District
The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, several boat harbors, two botanic conservatories ...
.
Anne McGlone Burke
Anne Marie Burke (née McGlone; born February 3, 1944) is an American jurist who served on the Illinois Supreme Court from 2006 until 2022. She served a term as the chief justice from 2019 until 2022. Burke had previously been appointed to the I ...
, then a physical education teacher with the Chicago Park District, began with the idea for a one-time, city-wide, Olympic-style athletic competition for people with special needs. Burke approached the Kennedy Foundation in 1967 to help fund the event. Kennedy Shriver, in turn, encouraged her to expand the idea beyond the city and the foundation provided a grant of $25,000. When Burke had approached another charity for funding, she was told, "You should be ashamed of yourself putting these kinds of kids on display". The advisory committee to the Chicago Special Olympics included Dr. William Freeberg from Southern Illinois University, Dr. Hayden of the Kennedy Foundation, Dr. Arthur Peavy, Burke, William McFetridge, and Stephen Kelly of the Chicago Park District, as well as, Olympic decathlon champion
Rafer Johnson
Rafer Lewis Johnson (August 18, 1934 – December 2, 2020) was an American decathlon, decathlete and film actor. He was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, having won silver in 1956. He had previously won a gold in the 1955 Pan Amer ...
. Kennedy Shriver was honorary chair. At the July 1968 games, Kennedy Shriver announced the formation of Special Olympics and that more games would be held every two years as a "Biennial International Special Olympics".
Hayden served as the games executive director through 1972, and then in international development for the games.
[
In 1971, The ]U.S. Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
gave the Special Olympics official approval to use the name "Olympics". France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
sent the first athletes from outside North America to the second games held in 1970. The third games in 1972 saw 10 nations send athletes The first Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in February 1977 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, U.S. The United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
declared 1986, the year of the Special Olympics. In 1988, the Special Olympics was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC). The first World Games held outside the U.S., were the winter games of 1993 in Salzburg and Schladming
Schladming is a small former mining town in the northwest of the Austrian state of Styria that is now a popular tourist destination. It has become a large winter-sports resort and has held various skiing competitions, including most notably the F ...
, Austria. The Austrian president was the first head of state to personally open the games.
In 1997, Healthy Athletes became an official Special Olympics initiative, offering health information and screenings to Special Olympics athletes worldwide. By 2010, the Healthy Athletes program had given free health screenings and treatment to more than 1 million people with intellectual disabilities.
The 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games – the first summer held outside of the United States – took place in Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. Approximately 7,000 athletes from 150 countries competed over 18 disciplines. The Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
games were also the first to have their own opening and closing ceremonies broadcast live. President of Ireland Mary McAleese
Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ga, Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an academic ...
performed the ceremonial duties. The 2003 games dramatically changed the perceptions and attitudes of international society regarding the abilities and limitations of people with intellectual disabilities. The opening ceremony of the 2003 Games has been described by President McAleese as "a time when Ireland was at its superb best".
On October 30, 2004, President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
signed into law the "Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act," Public Law 108–406. The bill authorized funding for its Healthy Athletes, Education, and Worldwide Expansion programs. Co-sponsored by Representatives Roy Blunt
Roy Dean Blunt (born January 10, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator for Missouri, a seat he was first elected to in 2010. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 33rd Missouri Secr ...
(R-MO), and Steny Hoyer
Steny Hamilton Hoyer (born June 14, 1939) is an American politician and attorney serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for since 1981 and as House majority leader, House Majority Leader since 2019. A Democrat ...
(D-MD), and Senators Rick Santorum
Richard John Santorum ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007 and was the Senate's third ...
(R-PA) and Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...
(D-NV), the bills were passed by unanimous consent in both chambers. In July 2006, the first Special Olympics USA
Special Olympics USA is a sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities in the United States. It is part of the global Special Olympics movement. Special Olympics was founded in 1968 with the main goal of accepting and ...
Games were held at Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
. Teams from all 50 states and the District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
participated.
In May 2016, Mary Davis of Dublin, Ireland, was named chief executive officer. She is the first CEO from outside the U.S. in the organization's history. From 2017 to 2019, US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
Elisabeth Dee DeVos ( ; ' Prince; born January 8, 1958) is an American politician, philanthropist, and former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021. DeVos is known for her support for ...
attempted to eliminate federal funding for the Special Olympics. Each year the attempt was rejected by Congress, and the public outcry following a third annual attempt resulted in the funding being maintained in 2019. As part of the Special Olympics 50th Anniversary celebration in 2018, a new mission called the “Inclusion Revolution” was launched.
Symbols
The Special Olympics logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...
is based on the sculpture "Joy and Happiness to All the Children of the World" by Zurab Tsereteli
Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli ( ka, ზურაბ კონსტანტინეს ძე წერეთელი, russian: Зураб Константинович Церетели; born 4 January 1934) is a Georgian-Russian painter, sc ...
which was a gift to SUNY Brockport when the university hosted the Special Olympics in 1979. The logo has gone through several changes in its lifetime. The "stick figure" is an abstract but humanistic form designed to convey the impression of movement and activity. The logo is a symbol of growth, confidence and joy among children and adults with disabilities who are learning coordination, mastering skills, participating in competitions and preparing themselves for richer, more productive lives.
In 2018, the Chicago Park District dedicated the "Eternal Flame of Hope" in honor of the Special Olympics. The sculpture by Richard Hunt stands in a plaza next to Soldier Field, where the first games were held 50 years earlier in 1968. The Flame of Hope is the name given to the torch that is carried to and lit at Special Olympics games.
Hosts
1 Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
, was originally selected to host the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. Due to financial problems and the constant delay in reconstruction of the venues of the 1984 Winter Olympics
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...
, the city gave up hosting the Games, and Boise, Idaho
Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...
, was invited to host the event.
2 It was planned that Åre
Åre () is a locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpen. 25% of the local eco ...
and Östersund
Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...
, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
would host the 2021 World Winter Games between February 2 to 13, 2021. However, on December 20, 2019, it was announced that the Swedish Paralympic Committee vetoed the necessary financing for the continuity of the event in the country, invalidating a promise made during the bid process, Special Olympics was forced to delay the event and in 2020 the Covid 19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
arose. Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
was announced winter host in 2023 on June 29, 2020. On March 4, 2022, it was announced that the Kazan games would be cancelled due to safety and economic concerns arising from the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.
National Programs
There are 204 countries and territories, grouped into 7 geographic regions (Updated at 17 Dec 2021).Due to legal issues,eight national programs don't use the official names of their countries in English are using their official names in their local languages. :
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India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
(details Detail(s) or The Detail(s) may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Details'' (film), a 2003 Swedish film
* ''The Details'' (film), a 2011 American film
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The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The law was enacted on January 1, 1970.Un ...
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Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
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"Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan.
Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...
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Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
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Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
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Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
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Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
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Participation
Special Olympics programs are available for athletes free of charge. More than 5.7 million athletes and Unified Sports partners are involved in Special Olympics sports training and competition in 172 countries. The organization offers year-round training and competition in 32 Olympic-style summer and winter sports.
People with intellectual disabilities are encouraged to join Special Olympics for the physical activity, which helps lower the rate of cardiovascular disease and obesity, among other health benefits. Also, they gain many emotional and psychological benefits, including self-confidence, social competence, building greater athletic skills and higher self-esteem. Exercise has also been shown to be related to a decrease in anxiety levels amongst people with intellectual disabilities.
To participate in Special Olympics, a person must be at least 8 years old and identified by an agency or professional as having one of the following conditions: intellectual disabilities, cognitive delays as measured by formal assessment, or significant learning or vocational problems due to cognitive delay that require or have required specially designed instruction. For young people with and without intellectual disabilities ages 2–7, Special Olympics has a Young Athletes program—an inclusive sport and play program with a focus on activities that are important to mental and physical growth. Children engage in games and activities that develop motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Parents say their children in Young Athletes also develop better social skills. The confidence boost makes it easier for them to play and talk with other children on the playground and elsewhere. A study by the Center for Social Development and Education (University of Massachusetts, Boston) found that the activities also had the effect of helping children with intellectual disabilities learn routines and approaches to learning, along with how to follow rules and directions.
Families can also get involved with the Special Olympics experience. Family members support their athletes to the best of their ability, which may involve attending or volunteering at the events. By being involved they can boost their athlete's self-esteem and will be looked at as a constant source of encouragement.
Volunteers and supporters are an integral part of Special Olympics—and millions of people around the world are committed to its programs. Some are sponsors or donors. Many others are coaches, event volunteers and fans.
Coaches help the athletes be the best they can be regardless of ability—or disability. Special Olympics trains coaches through the Coaching Excellence program, which includes partnering with sports organizations. Special Olympics volunteers are introduced to lifetime friendships and great rewards.
There are many events in which families and volunteers participate, but the biggest event is the Law Enforcement Torch Run
The Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) is a campaign to benefit the Special Olympics. It began in 1981 in Wichita, Kansas, and is the largest grass-roots fundraising movement for the Special Olympics.
LETR is run by police officers, sheriff's deputi ...
, which involves police chiefs, police officers, secret service, FBI agents, military police, sheriffs, state troopers, prison guards, and other law enforcement personnel assembling to raise awareness and funds for Special Olympics. Ahead of a Special Olympics competition, law enforcement
Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...
officers carry the torch in intervals along a planned route covering most of the state or country to the site of the opening ceremonies
A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion.
The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''.
Church and civil (secular) ...
of the chapter or Special Olympics World Summer or Winter Games. Then they pass the torch to a Special Olympics athlete and together they run up to the cauldron and light it, signifying the beginning of the games.
The Special Olympics athlete's oath, which was first introduced by Eunice Kennedy Shriver at the inaugural Special Olympics international games in Chicago in 1968, is "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." The origin of the oath came from Herbert J. Kramer, then Public Relations Advisor to the Kennedy Foundation.
Sports offered
In 1968, track and field, swimming, and floor hockey were the first three official sports offered by Special Olympics. As in the Olympics, events are introduced in training and then added to the competitive schedule, and from there the list of sports and events continued to grow.
Special Olympics has more than 30 Olympic-type individual and team sports that provide meaningful training and competition opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. , these are:
* Athletics (Track and field)
* Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
* Bocce
(, or , ), sometimes anglicized as bocce ball, bocci or boccie, is a ball sport belonging to the boules family. Developed into its present form in Italy, it is closely related to British bowls and French , with a common ancestry from ancien ...
* Bowling
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...
* Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
* Cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
* Equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
* Figure skating
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
* Floorball
Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. Men and women play indoors with sticks and a plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods. The sport of bandy also played a role ...
* Floor hockey
Floor hockey is a broad term for several indoor floor game codes which involve two teams using a stick and type of ball or disk. Disks are either open or closed but both designs are usually referred to as "pucks". These games are played either on ...
* Football (Soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
* Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
* Gymnastics: Artistic
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wh ...
and rhythmic Rhythmic may refer to:
* Related to rhythm
* Rhythmic contemporary, a radio format
* Rhythmic adult contemporary, a radio format
* Rhythmic gymnastics, a form of gymnastics
* Rhythmic (chart)
The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and ...
* Handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
* Judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...
* Karate
(; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...
* Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...
* Netball
Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...
* Powerlifting
Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...
* Roller skating
Roller skating is the act of traveling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sid ...
* Sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...
* Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...
* Snowshoe running
Snowshoe running, or snowshoeing, is a winter sport practiced with snowshoes, which is governed by World Snowshoe Federation (WSSF) founded in 2010, which until 2015 had its name International Snowshoe Federation (ISSF). The snowshoes running is ...
* Skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...
: Alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
and cross-country
Cross country or cross-country may refer to:
Places
* Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland
* Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY
* Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...
* Softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
* Speed skating: Short-track
* Swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
: Pool and open-water
* Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
* Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
* Triathlon
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...
* Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
Other sports and sports-related programs include the Motor Activity Training Program[ and beach volleyball. Availability of sports can depend on location and season.
A key difference between Special Olympics competitions and those of other sports organizations is that athletes of all ability levels are encouraged to participate. Competitions are structured so that athletes compete with other athletes of similar ability in equitable divisions. An athlete's ability is the primary factor in divisioning Special Olympics competitions. The ability of an athlete or team is determined by an entry score from a prior competition or the result of a seeding round or preliminary event at the competition itself. Other factors that are significant in establishing competitive divisions are age and gender.
At competitions, medals are awarded for first, second, and third place in each event, and ribbons are awarded to athletes who finish in fourth through eighth place.
]
Unified Sports
In recent years, Special Olympics has pioneered the concept of Unified Sports, bringing together athletes with and without intellectual disabilities as teammates. The basic concept is that training together and playing together can create a path to friendship and understanding. The program has expanded beyond the U.S. and North America: more than 1.4 million people worldwide now take part in Special Olympics Unified Sports. The goal is to break down stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities and promote unity.
Building on this, Special Olympics launched "The Revolution Is Inclusion," inviting people worldwide to sign the Inclusion Pledge. This campaign aimed at celebrating all abilities began as Special Olympics marked its 50th anniversary.
A recent study of Special Olympics Unified Sports in Serbia, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and Hungary documented the benefits of Unified Sports, including the effect of changing attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities. As one Unified Sports partner said, "I am ashamed to say that I used to laugh at these people (people with intellectual disabilities), now I will tell anybody to stop laughing if I see it and I will stand up for people if I can." Other evaluations have also shown Unified Sports to be successful in building self-esteem and confidence in people with intellectual disabilities and also as a way to improve understanding and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities among their non-disabled peers.
The Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Regional Research centre is based at the University of Ulster Jordanstown.
As part of their 50th anniversary, the Special Olympics created the first Unified Cup. The first competition is a soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
tournament with 440 athletes from 24 countries.
Unified Robotics, a program that pairs Special Olympics students with FIRST Robotics
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (''FIRST'') is an international youth organization that operates the ''FIRST'' Robotics Competition, ''FIRST'' LEGO League Challenge, ''FIRST'' LEGO League Explore, ''FIRST'' LEGO Leagu ...
students to build robots, began in 2016, and has been bringing opportunities for technological skill development to Special Olympics students in Washington state
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
, Arizona, and in other regions since. Special Olympics Arizona also promotes inclusion through Unified Arts programming including robotics, music, photography, art competitions, and gardening.
Healthy Athletes
As Special Olympics began to grow, staffers and volunteers began to notice that athletes—children and adults with intellectual disabilities—also had many untreated health problems. In 1997, Special Olympics began an initiative called Healthy Athletes, which offers health screenings to athletes in need.
Healthy Athletes currently offers health screenings in eight areas: Fit Feet (podiatry), FUNfitness (physical therapy), Health Promotion (better health and well-being), Healthy Hearing (audiology), MedFest (sports physical exam), Opening Eyes (vision), Special Smiles (dentistry), Strong Minds (Emotional Health). Screenings educate athletes on health and also identify problems that may need additional follow-up. For example, the FUNfitness Program assess flexibility, strength, balance, and aerobic fitness of the athlete. Following the screen, the physical therapist would provide instructions on how to optimize their physical fitness in the areas screened.
Since the Healthy Athletes program began, Special Olympics has become the largest global public health organization dedicated to serving people with intellectual disabilities. So far, more than 1.9 million Healthy Athletes screenings have been conducted for people with intellectual disabilities all around the world.
The Special Olympics health initiative has attracted high-profile partners, including the Hear the World Foundation, which screened more than 1,000 athletes during the most recent World Winter Games in Korea; more than 200 of them were found to have hearing loss.
In 2012, the Special Olympics Healthy Communities initiative launched in eight countries—Kazakhstan, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Romania, South Africa and Thailand, as well as six U.S. states. The goal is to improve the health and well-being of people with intellectual disabilities and allow them to reach their full potential.
Criticism
Scholar Keith Storey summarized common objections in a 2004 article in ''Journal of Disability Policy Studies''. One criticism directed at the organization pertains to the role that corporate sponsors play in it, which critics feel has led to degrading paternalism
Paternalism is action that limits a person's or group's liberty or autonomy and is intended to promote their own good. Paternalism can also imply that the behavior is against or regardless of the will of a person, or also that the behavior expres ...
toward athletic ability. While corporate fundraising makes the games possible, critics argue, it provides good public relations for the sponsors, but does not result in integration of people with disabilities into the workforce at those companies. People with disabilities are also not widely represented on the Special Olympics' board of directors, as only two members have disabilities. This has been criticized as a double standard that reflects poorly on the disability rights movement
The disability rights movement is a global new social movements, social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunity, equal opportunities and equality before the law, equal rights for all people with disability, disabilities.
It is made u ...
where people with disabilities control the service delivery system rather than relying on people without disabilities.
See also
* Deaflympics
The Deaflympics also known as Deaflympiad (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athlet ...
* Flame of Hope
* Healthy Athletes
* Special Hockey
References
Further reading
* Kessler, Ronald. ''The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy
Joseph Patrick Kennedy (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Ken ...
and the Dynasty He Founded''. Warner Books
Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hachett ...
, 1996.
External links
Special Olympics
Special Olympics Australia
{{Authority control
Disabled multi-sport events
Parasports organizations
Kennedy family
Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.
Sports organizations established in 1968
Shriver family
Youth sport
Organizations established in 1968
1968 establishments in Washington, D.C.