Sports Offered
Special Olympics has over 32 Olympic-type individual and team sports that provide meaningful training and competition opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. A few are listed below:
- Alpine Skiing
- Aquatics
- Athletics (Track and Field)
- Badminton
- Basketball
- Bocce
- Bowling
- Cross-Country Skiing
- Cycling
- Equestrian Sports
- Figure Skating
- Floor Hockey
- Football (Soccer)
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Handball
- Judo
- Powerlifting
- Sailing
- Short-track Speedskating
- Snowboarding
- Snowshoeing
- Softball
- Table Tennis
- Tennis
- Volleyball
The above list shows a few of the 32 sports that Special Olympics offers; there are several more recognized and demonstration sports, including Open Water Swimming, Kayaking, Floorball, Cricket, Netball and Beach Volleyball. Availability of sports can depend on location and season.
In the Young Athletes program, children ages 2–7 play simple sports and games. The focus is on fun activities that are important to mental and physical growth.
In 1968, track and field and swimming were the first two official sports offered by Special Olympics. As in the Olympics, events are introduced in training and then added to the competitive schedule, and from there the list of sports and events continued to grow.
Read more about this topic: Special Olympics
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