The First International Special Olympics Games (Summer Special Olympics) were held in Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois on July 20, 1968.
These were the very first Special Olympics world games. They were held In Chicago, ILL. at Soldier Field.
1000 athletes from 26 states, and Canada competed in track and swimming. Swimming included 25 meter races, and track had short distance runnings, ball throws, and standing long jump.
The athlete's oath was introduced at these games by founder Eunice Shriver at the opening ceremony. The oath is," Let me win. But if I can not win, let me be brave in the attempt."
Famous quotes containing the words special, world, summer and/or games:
“The books may say that nine-month-olds crawl, say their first words, and are afraid of strangers. Your exuberantly concrete and special nine-month-old hasn’t read them. She may be walking already, not saying a word and smiling gleefully at every stranger she sees. . . . You can support her best by helping her learn what she’s trying to learn, not what the books say a typical child ought to be learning.”
—Amy Laura Dombro (20th century)
“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”
—John Paul II [Karol Wojtyla] (b. 1920)
“I know I am but summer to your heart,
And not the full four seasons of the year.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)
“Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)