Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to 5.7 million athletes 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 Special Olympics organization is recognized by the International Olympic Committee; however, unlike the Paralympic Games, Special Olympics World Games are not held in the same year or in conjunction with the Olympic Games.
The Special Olympics World Games is a major event put on by the Special Olympics. This event alternates between summer and winter games, and is held every two years. The most recent Special Olympics World Summer Games were held in Los Angeles, California (The largest event in LA since the 1984 Olympic Games), from July 25, 2015 to August 2, 2015. This was the first time that the Special Olympics were part of ESPN daily coverage. The next Special Olympics World Summer Games will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in March 2019. These will be the first Special Olympics World Games to be held in the Middle East.
The most recent Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in Graz, Schladming 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, South Korea 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
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History
In June 1962, Eunice Kennedy Shriver started a day camp called Camp Shriver for children with intellectual disabilities at her home in Potomac, Maryland. She started this camp because of concern about children with intellectual disabilities having very little opportunity to participate in athletic events. Using Camp Shriver as an example, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who was head of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation and part of President John F. Kennedy'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 (of which Eunice became director in 1957) gave grants to universities, recreation departments and community centers to hold similar camps.
It was also in the early 1960s that Eunice Kennedy Shriver wrote an article in the Saturday Evening Post, revealing that her sister Rosemary, 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. Though Rosemary was born with intellectual disabilities, she had later undergone a frontal lobotomy. The brain damage inflicted by the operation caused her to be permanently incapacitated. Shiver's inspiration for the Special Olympics came from Rosemary's disability, and provided her with an overall vision that people with intellectual disabilities could compete and unify the public that come from all different situations. 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 in 1995 that that was not exactly the case. "The games should not focus on one individual," she said.
Meanwhile, in 1958, Dr. James N. Oliver of England was conducting 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). Dr. Oliver would later (1964) serve as consultant to Camp Shriver, the forerunner to Special Olympics.
The 1964 research of Dr. Frank Hayden, a Canadian physical education professor from London, Ontario, had shown that persons with intellectual disabilities can and should participate in physical exercise. Moreover, he believed that the benefits of such activity would be seen in all areas of the athletes' lives. And so, with the help of a local school that offered space in its gym, one of the first organised sports programs floor hockey for individuals with intellectual disabilities became available in the fall of 1968.
The first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held in July 1968 at Soldier Field 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. Anne McGlone Burke, a physical education teacher with the Chicago Park District and recipient of a Kennedy Foundation grant, began with the idea for a one-time Olympic-style athletic competition for people with special needs. Burke then approached her to fund the event. Eunice, in turn, encouraged her to expand on the idea and the JPK Jr. Foundation provided a grant of $25,000.
The advisory committee to the Chicago Special Olympics included Dr. William Freeberg, Southern Illinois University; Dr. Frank J. Hayden, Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation; Dr. Arthur Peavy; William McFetridge, Anne McGlone Burke and Stephen Kelly of the Chicago Park District; and Olympic decathlon champion Rafer Johnson. Eunice Kennedy Shriver was honorary chairman. At the July 1968 games, Shriver announced the formation of Special Olympics and that more games would be held every two years as a "Biennial International Special Olympics.".
In 1971, The U.S. Olympic Committee gave the Special Olympics official approval to use the name "Olympics".
The first 1977 Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in February 1977 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, U.S.
In 1988, the Special Olympics was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
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.
In 2003 the first Special Olympics World Summer Games to be held outside of the United States took place in Dublin, Ireland. Approximately 7,000 athletes from 150 countries competed over 18 disciplines. The Dublin games were also the first to have their own opening and closing ceremonies broadcast live, performed by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. Most significantly the 2003 games dramatically changed the perceptions and attitudes of 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 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 (R-MO), and Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Harry Reid (D-NV), the bills were passed by unanimous consent in both chambers.
In July 2006, the first Special Olympics USA Games were held at Iowa State University. Teams from all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated.
In 2008, Special Olympics and Best Buddies International launched the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign to encourage individuals to stop using the word "retard" in everyday speech.
In 2011, Senators Tom Harkin and Roy Blunt and Representatives Steny Hoyer and Peter King introduced the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Act to authorize federal funding for Special Olympics Programs and Best Buddies Programs.
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 nearly 50-year history.
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Symbols
The Special Olympics 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.
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