In the News

It is during these times of the unknown that the need for innovation and creativity emerges. In the following videos, Special Olympics Youth Leaders share how they took on the challenge of a new, virtual normal, and committed to creating innovative projects portraying an uncertain time.

Special Olympics Chief Health Officer, Dr. Alicia Bazzano, MD, PhD, MPH, explains why people with intellectual disabilities have a higher risk of diabetes than the general population and how Special Olympics is addressing that gap.

As part of an effort to amplify the voice of Special Olympics across the world of sport and fashion, Special Olympics teamed up with the New School’s Parsons School of Design. The class began in January 2020 and was the first time Parsons worked to include people with intellectual disabilities in their curriculum.

Former Juventus stars David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero showed their support for the athletes of Special Olympics and our work with refugees by joining recent Special Olympics European Football Week activities!

Njegoš Mihajlović, athlete leader and Special Olympics medallist has become the first person with intellectual disabilities to enrol in a University in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the beginning of 2008, after attending two years of college, I felt a strong pull towards the military. I was a respectable student, but I wanted to experience something more than what my school could offer. I needed to be a part of something that was bigger than myself and ultimately push me to be a better individual. In July of 2008, I enlisted in the United States Army as part of the Military Police. I completed Basic Combat Training and One Station Unit Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. There, I learned how to be a soldier.

Sixteen hours and 46 minutes later, as the nighttime darkness settled in, Chris crossed the finish line and made history of as the first person with Down syndrome to finish a full IRONMAN race.

Tune-in to the Ben and Bilal Show on Canada Talks 167/SiriusXM every Wednesday at 5:30pm for the recurring Special Olympics segment to explore how the people, events and programs make the movement so powerfully inclusive. They will talk to Special Olympics athletes, celebrity Ambassadors and supporters, staff and more!

Three Special Olympics athletes are featured in the recently released New York Times Best Seller Humans.

As the second and final stage of the Special Olympics World Winter Games Kazan 2022 logo contest kicks off, three ideas proposed by the first stage winners will be used as blueprints to create the final emblem.

On 24 October, 2020, Special Olympics Unified pair and U.S. Youth Ambassadors, Steven Russel (athlete and student in Georgia) and Jordan Adeyemi (Unified partner from Georgia who attends boarding school in New Hampshire) appeared on The Weather Channel to discuss ways that students can incorporate physical movement into their days while learning remotely due the COVID-19 pandemic.

Special Olympics Great Britain athlete Niall Guite, a basketball gold medalist, has drawn more than 100 pictures of U.K. football (soccer) stadiums and has raised £4,298 so far by selling them.