In the News

Get ready for the Special Olympics World Games 2019 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Over 7,500 athletes will compete from over 190 countries.

This Friday March 8th, Special Olympics will be going coast to coast with our athletes & influencers to show the world how much better it can be when we #ChooseToInclude.

The 360° virtual reality video series Meet the Determined is now live! This first film is entitled UAE Now and gives insight into the history of the United Arab Emirates.

During a moving ceremony in Athens, Greece the Flame of Hope torch was lit by the rays of the sun as the first part of its journey to the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019.

Kansas Police Chief Richard LaMunyon created the first Torch Run in 1981 and founded Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics.

Special Olympics Great Britain and Special Olympics Europe Eurasia recently signed an exciting new partnership with London South Bank University (LSBU), one of London’s largest and oldest universities.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver is the subject of a new BBC documentary entitled The Kennedy Who Changed the World.

The Global Project Team of the ‘Play Unified. Learn Unified’ project funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) had the opportunity to meet and look towards the future of the project under the sunny San Diego skies at the recent Unified Champion Schools Conference.

We founded Spread the Word to End the Word in 2009 with an audacious belief, a plain observation, an urgent goal, and an ambitious plan.

This year’s annual NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified basketball game during NBA All-Star weekend was full of fun, talent and excitement. Special Olympics assembled 12 international players to gather in Charlotte, NC to represent their countries, cities and a global movement of inclusion. The players were broken up into two teams of five Special Olympics athletes, with intellectual disabilities. Each team was joined by four international sport celebrities without intellectual disabilities to create a “home” and an “away” team for the Unified basketball game.

In just under one month, ESPN’s global coverage of the 2019 Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi will begin with a live three-hour special.

For people with intellectual disabilities, the word no is often as familiar in their lives as it is unwelcome.