Special Olympics

Special Olympics Ireland was founded in 1978 and over the past 33 years the foundation has grown and now boasts over 9300 athletes competing in 15 sports in 385 sports clubs throughout Ireland.

In 2003 the Special Olympics World Summer Games were held in Ireland in spectacular fashion.

The games were held in Dublin and ran from 21st to 29th June 2003.
177 towns and villages hosted athletes and their families from all the participating countries in the run up to and during the games.
30,000 volunteer officials (one of them being my own father) assisted in the running of the games and gave their time freely to ensure the smooth running of all activities.

The first World Games were held in 1968 in Chicago and approximately 1500 athletes took part.

The 2003 Special Olympics games were the first to ever be held outside of the United States and approximately 7000 athletes from over 150 countries participated including a 12 strong team from Iraq who needed special permission to participate despite the ongoing war in their homeland.
This huge rise in number of participants significantly shows how the games popularity has risen given the exposure of the World games.

The opening ceremony of the 2003 games in Ireland was an international success and included acts such as U2 and the Corrs and members of the Internationally acclaimed cast of Riverdance.  The games were officially opened by the late Nelson Mandela.  Special guests included Muhammad Ali, Jon Bon Jovi, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Roy Keane.

A caption of the entrance parade

The Special Olympics World Games take place every two years and the next World Summer games will take place in 2015 in Los Angeles.