Origins of Special Olympics

The movement known worldwide as Special Olympics began simply as the idea of one extraordinary woman with extraordinary vision. Eunice Kennedy Shriver believed that people with intellectual disabilities were far more capable in sports and physical activities than many experts thought.

And so, the world's largest amateur sports organization began as a day camp in the backyard of Eunice and Sargent Shriver. It has been growing ever since.

Mrs. Shriver organized the first International Special Olympics Games in 1968. Held at Chicago's Soldier Field, the event consisted of 1,000 athletes from 26 states and Canada competing in track and field, swimming, and floor hockey. Now, you will see that the growth has been spectacular -- nearly 1 million athletes training and competing in more than 140 countries and 54 U.S. Chapters with the guidance of 500,000 volunteers and 250,000 coaches. Athletes now compete in more than 20 Olympic-type sports.

And, in 1999, the Special Olympics World Summer Games was the largest sporting event in the world. More than 7,000 athletes from 140 countries traveled to Raleigh, N.C., for 10 days of competition. The world watched as over 2,000 coaches, 15,000 family and friends, 450,000 volunteers, 500,000 spectators, and 1,500 media representatives from around the globe participated, with millions more viewing the events on television.

Throughout its history, Special Olympics has remained committed to high-quality training and high levels of sportsmanship. This commitment has earned us the right to use the word "Olympics" in our title -- the only sports organization authorized by the International Olympics Committee to do so.