Special Olympics World Games

The Special Olympics World Games are an international sporting competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities, organized by Special Olympics.

Although local Special Olympics events and competitions are held around the world every day, the World Games are flagship events. The goal is to showcase the skills and accomplishments of people with intellectual disabilities on a global stage. The World Games feature more than a week of competitions involving thousands of athletes. Through media coverage of the Games, the stories and achievements of children and adults with intellectual disabilities are made known to millions of people worldwide.

Special Olympics World Games take place every two years and alternate between Summer and Winter Games, a schedule similar to the Olympics and Paralympics. Attracting as many as 25,000 volunteers and coaches, plus several thousands of athletes, these World Games can be the world's largest sporting event of the year.

Special Olympics athletes can compete in 32 Olympic-style summer or winter sports. The athletes are adults and children with intellectual disabilities who can range from gifted, world-class competitors to average athletes to those with limited physical ability. It's a fundamental rule of Special Olympics competitions that athletes are matched up according to their ability and age. This “divisioning” process is an effort to make every competition fair, competitive and exciting for athletes as well as fans.

The first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held in Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1968.

The first International Special Olympics Winter Games were held in February 1977 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, USA.

In 1991, the name was officially changed from International Special Olympics Summer or Winter Games to Special Olympics World Summer or Winter Games.

The most recent Special Olympics World Summer Games -- held June 25-July 4, 2011 in Athens, Greece -- involved more than 6,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities from 170 countries.

The next Special Olympics global event will be the World Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea from Jan. 29-Feb. 5, 2013. The Host Town program, in which families host Special Olympics athletes from around the world to help them acclimate to the host country and customs, begins Jan. 26, 2013.

The next Special Olympics World Summer Games are set for Los Angeles, California from July 24-Aug. 2, 2015. These games will be the first Special Olympics World Summer Games held in the United States in 16 years.