Stories From the Field of Play

Athletes with intellectual disabilities will compete within an IJF world-level framework as part of Sarajevo’s World Judo Championships Veterans and Kata programme.

Veo recently featured a story showcasing how access to live-streamed matches helped supporters around the world stay connected to the Special Olympics Unified Football World Cup, held in Paris from 6 to 11 July.

More than 100 athletes took part in a landmark Motor Activity Training Program (MATP) demonstration in Malta last week. The activity took place ahead of the Special Olympics European Swimming Open, 10 to 14 September. The event marked one of the most highly attended MATP demonstrations globally and the largest staged in Europe this year, underscoring Malta’s leadership in creating meaningful sport opportunities for athletes with high support needs.

With just over a year to go until the Special Olympics World Games Santiago 2027, Special Olympics is preparing the high-level team of Technical Delegates (TD) who will be deployed in Santiago across the Games’ 22 sports to uphold and maintain the organization’s high competition standards in order to have meaningful, competitive, and fair competition across all athletes competing.

The final webinar of the 2023 Coach Webinar Series, presented by Gallagher. This webinar was all about being adaptable as a coach and keeping adult athletes engaged in a challenging environment. This webinar was hosted by football referee and Special Olympics Washington Athlete Leader, Garrett Utz. Garrett has officiated at 1 USA Games, 2 Unified Cups, and 2 World Games. Garrett also holds multiple leadership positions and is also an Athlete Advisor for the Sport and Competition team in Special Olympics International. Garrett was joined by Gallagher’s Scott Gregory who sits on the board of Special Olympics Southern California and is an active Special Olympics coach. Thomas Graham from the Newcastle United Foundation gave us an overview of the development of their walking football programme and how this could be applied to Special Olympics contexts. Ken Black, co-founder of the Inclusion Club, then presented on the STEP Model (Space, Task, Equipment, People) and how to adapt your coaching to continually challenge athletes no matter the ability level. To close out the webinar, there was a very passionate and inspiring message from Special Olympics supporter and former US Men’s National Team player and current Vice President of Sporting for US Soccer, Oguchi Onyewu.

Mercedes Navarro Puig and Maciej Fran were among nine Toyota Motor Europe (TME) volunteers who travelled to Malmö to lend their time, energy and skills to the Special Olympics Sweden Invitational Games 2026. They reflect on the power of the experience and the impact of volunteering with Special Olympics.

The Special Olympics Sweden Invitational Games 2026, which concluded on Sunday, is yet another flagship event in our region that Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has put considerable support behind.

Malta to welcome athletes from across Europe and beyond for a major international swimming event from 10 to 14 September 2026

With support from Optometry Giving Sight, three trainees from Special Olympics Nevada, Tennessee, and Florida completed a Clinical Director Train-the-Trainer program at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games from 18-20 June in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Special Olympics Sweden Invitational Games 2026 will be officially opened in Folkets Park, Malmö, marking the largest sporting event ever held in Sweden for people with intellectual disabilities.