Refugee

Special Olympics Advisor and advocate for Unified with Refugees programme, Gerald Mballe has been shortlisted for the Integration of Refugees Through Sport Award (IRTS) Role Model Award.

From Brussels to Nairobi and from Tuzla to Turin and beyond, the Special Olympics Unified with Refugees program continues to expand its reach in affording Special Olympics athletes and refugee youth alike the opportunity to come together and Play Unified.

Doctor, an athlete in Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp, has grown as a teammate, leader, and friend thanks to the Play Unified: Learn Unified initiative.

Gerald Mballe, long time Special Olympics Italy Unified Partner and now Advisor for Special Olympics Europe Eurasia, shares a powerful and moving conversation about his life and sport with David Eades on Sports for Humanity's podcast, Live Like You Play.

Special Olympics Europe Eurasia is excited to announce that Special Olympics Italia Unified Partner, Gerald Mballe will join the regional team as the movement’s first-ever Advisor on the Special Olympics Unified with Refugees programme.

Special Olympics and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today signed a global Memorandum of Understanding to formalize a growing partnership benefiting refugees of all abilities.

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 2020, the United Nations marks 75 years of working toward “peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet.” On United Nations Day, we celebrate the UN’s work with a look at some of the Special Olympics athlete leaders, from around the world, who have spoken before UN audiences throughout the years.