Special Olympics World Games

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Updated On : 08 Oct, 2020

Full Name
Special Olympics World Games

Type
international

Location
Worldwide

Disabled
No

Conducted
Once in 2 years

Gender
Both

Trivia

The World Games consists of more than a week of competitions involving thousands of athletes. The stories and achievements of kids and adults with intellectual disabilities are showcased to millions of people around the world through media coverage of the games.
Attracting more than 350,000 volunteers and coaches as well as many thousands of athletes, these World Games could be the world's largest sporting event of the year.

The Special Olympics World Games is a major international multi-sport event for athletes with intellectual disabilities, which aims to showcase the skills and accomplishments of people with intellectual disabilities on a global stage. The IOC-recognized, Special Olympics organization, organizes these games. The event is held every two years alternating between Summer and Winter events, similar to the current format of the Olympics and Paralympics, albeit in the reverse order, with Winter Games being held on leap years rather than the Summer Games.

The first-ever International Special Olympics Summer Games took place in 1968 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The first-ever International Special Olympics Winter Games were held in 1977 in Colorado, USA. The name of the International Special Olympics Summer/Winter Games was officially changed to the Special Olympics World Summer/Winter Games in 1991.

Significance / Memorable Moments

Over 170 countries with around 6,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities competed in the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, held in Athens, Greece.
In 1993, Austria hosted the fifth edition of the Special Olympics World Winter Games (first edition to be held outside of the USA) and after that Austria got the chance to host these games again in 2017 at the Graz and Schladming in Styria.
The recent World Summer Games were held in 2019 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. It was the first-ever games to be held in the Middle East/North Africa region.
2023 World Summer Games will be host by Berlin, Germany, which will be the first time Germany hosting these events. 2022 World Winter Games will be hosted by Kazan, Russia.
Special Olympics athletes can participate in 32 Olympic-style summer or winter games. Athletes are adults and kids with intellectual disabilities and can range from gifted, world-class participants to average athletes with limited physical ability.

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Special Olympics World Games

Trivia

Significance / Memorable Moments

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