On this day in history, July 20, 1968, athletes competed in the first International Special Olympics Games, the largest sporting event for people with intellectual disabilities today, according to National Geographic.
The first International Special Olympics Games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois.
About 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities from the United States and Canada competed in the first-ever Special Olympics International Summer Games in Chicago, the official Special Olympics website said.
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Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of President John F. Kennedy, developed the Special Olympics.
Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Kennedy Shriver decided to take action when she noticed the unfair treatment of people who developed and learned more slowly or differently due to cognitive problems beyond their control, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver is shown at her wedding to Sargent Shriver in 1953. She developed the Special Olympics and helped launch it in Chicago on July 20, 1968: “The opening ceremony included a teenage runner carrying a torch to light a 45-foot-tall John F. Kennedy Flame of Hope.” (Fake Images)
She was directly inspired by her sister Rosemary, who had an intellectual disability, the source said.
“The opening ceremony included a teenage runner carrying a torch to light a 45-foot-tall John F. Kennedy Flame of Hope. More than 200 events were offered, including long jump, softball toss, 25-yard swim, 100-yard swim, high jump, 50-yard dash, water polo and floor hockey,” the official Special Olympics website said.
“Children with intellectual disabilities can be exceptional athletes… Through sport, they can develop their potential for growth.”
In her opening remarks, Kennedy Shriver said, “Children with intellectual disabilities can be exceptional athletes and… through sports, they can develop their potential for growth,” according to National Geographic.
He pledged that this new organization, the Special Olympics, would offer people with intellectual disabilities around the world “the opportunity to play, the opportunity to compete and the opportunity to grow,” the source said.
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The inaugural games were organized by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne McGlone Burke, then 23 and a physical education teacher at the Chicago Park District, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, according to the Chicago History Museum.
Special Olympics originated and grew at “Camp Shriver,” held in Kennedy Shriver’s own backyard.
Kennedy Shriver was changing the way people acted and reacted toward the intellectually disabled, the National Museum of American History noted.
There he created programs for young people with intellectual disabilities, National Geographic said.
On February 6, 1975, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts (center, back) and his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver (center, front), jogged and walked a mile on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., to kick off a 3,182-mile fundraising excursion to benefit the Special Olympics sports program for mentally handicapped youth. (AP Agency)
This was many children's first introduction to swimming, canoeing, horseback riding, and structured play.
Through sports, Kennedy Shriver was changing the way people acted and reacted toward the intellectually disabled, the National Museum of American History noted.
The 1968 event was so well received that Kennedy Shriver promised more games would be held in 1970 and every two years thereafter as the Biennial International Special Olympics, according to the official Special Olympics website.
By the beginning of the 21st century, there were chapters in approximately 200 countries.
In 1971, the United States Olympic Committee granted Special Olympics approval as the only organization allowed to use the name “Olympics” in the United States, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
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The first Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in February 1977 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, according to Britannica.com.
In March 1993, the Special Olympics International Winter Games were held in Austria.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of former President John F. Kennedy, in Berlin, Germany, June 22, 2005. (AP Photo/Roberto Pfeil)
The games, held in Schladming and Salzburg, were the first international games held outside the United States, according to the official Special Olympics website.
“The 1993 International Winter Games in Austria set national records for media coverage,” the same source said.
By the beginning of the 21st century, there were chapters in approximately 200 countries.
There were also more than one million athletes participating annually in 20,000 events and tournaments held around the world, culminating in the Special Olympics World Games held every two years, alternating between winter and summer sports, the same source described.
In June 2023, the Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Berlin, Germany welcomed 7,000 Special Olympics athletes and unified partners from approximately 190 countries to compete in 26 sports.
Today, Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities, with more than 4.9 million athletes in 172 countries and more than 1 million volunteers, according to the National Museum of American History.
The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, according to the same source.
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Most recently, in June 2023, the Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Berlin, Germany welcomed 7,000 Special Olympics athletes and unified partners from approximately 190 countries to compete in 26 sports.
The athletes were supported by more than 3,000 coaches and 20,000 volunteers, according to Special Olympics.
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The next Special Olympics World Winter Games will be held in Turin, Italy, in March 2025.
