2004 Special Olympics Athlete Participation Report In 2004, Special Olympics grew at the fastest pace in its recorded history – 26 percent over a year earlier. The movement now reaches more than 1.73 million athletes around the world. Special Olympics remains committed to achieving quality growth and reaching 2 million athletes by the end of 2005.      Download the 2004 Global Athlete Participation Report (Adobe PDF file, 756K) In 2000, the first Special Olympics Athlete Census established a baseline count of 985,973 athletes training and competing around the globe. Two years later, the movement had grown by 22 percent, increasing the total count of athletes and participants to 1,206,655. In 2003, the movement grew an additional 14 percent. Extensive athlete participation data collected on an annual basis allows Special Olympics to continuously build the organization’s information-driven management culture. 2004 Athlete Participation Summary results provide access to a continuous, consistent dataset, allowing the organization to analyze growth and participation trends over a multi-year period.   Some of the key findings obtained as a result of the 2004 Census include: Special Olympics reaches out to 1,738,385 athletes worldwide. On average, 70 percent of Special Olympics athletes are under the age of 22. However, in Europe/Eurasia and North America, approximately 50 percent of all athletes are between 8 and 21. 2004 witnessed explosive (27 percent) growth worldwide in Motor Activities Training Programs (MATP), with MATP becoming the fifth most popular sport in Europe/Eurasia. The top five sports movement-wide reported in 2004 are the same as in 2002 and 2003; they are athletics, basketball, bowling, football and aquatics. The number of Special Olympics Unified Sports® athletes jumped 15 percent, while the number of Programs offering Unified Sports decreased by 16. To read more about athlete growth, demographics, sport participation and Programs’ successful approaches growth please download the 2004 Global Athlete Participation Report (Adobe PDF file, 756K). For more information on the census please contact the Organizational Development department at organizationaldevelopment@specialolympics.org. (Information is also available on the 2003 Global Athlete Participation Report and 2002 Global Athlete Participation Report.) Going Forward In addition to the valuable “status check” the census provides the movement, it also lays the groundwork for the global growth strategy going forward. Special Olympics remains committed to its major goals: Achieve quality growth and reach 2 million athletes by the end of 2005 Become a worldwide movement led by athletes Commit to changing the attitudes of every person on earth through the Special Olympics experience. For 2004-2005 Special Olympics is to: Review strategies in key Programs and expedite development of tailored tools and supplemental funding for these Programs Realign staff and focus organizational priorities and resources to Programs with the highest growth potential Support Programs that can attract funding, influence opinion leaders, demonstrate the reach and commitment of the movement Continue to conduct major awareness events These key Programs include: China, Bharat (India), Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, Mexico, Nippon (Japan), New York, Iraq and Afghanistan. These Programs will account for 78 percent of the new athletes needed to reach our goal of 2 million by 2005. It is imperative that we reach our goals. Special Olympics has the opportunity to change the lives of millions of people all over the world and we cannot miss it.