What's So Special About Special Olympics?
By Sargent Shriver , Chairman of the Board

Special Olympics is truly special. In ways which inspire and reveal the very best in human nature, it has become one of the most encouraging and profound developments in modern sports!

Special Olympics is truly amateur. No money changes hands with the athletes above or beneath the table. No training or coaching fees are charged to the athletes. Not even an entrance fee is charged to the thousands of spectators who attend the Games-50,000 just for the Opening Ceremonies of the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The coaches, the referees, the medical doctors, the police officers, the starters and timers, the lawyers and accountants, the computer operators and the publicists all work for nothing. No sports organization has so many volunteers-more than 1 million. They give themselves just as the athletes do, for the love of sport and for one another, as true amateurs in their hearts and actions.

The sun never sets on Special Olympics. Special Olympics goes on night and day, everyday, in thousands of communities throughout the world from Moscow to Bangkok, from Harare to Lima. Even as you read this message, Special Olympics training and coaching are in progress. Rome was not built in a day. Neither is a Special Olympics athlete.

Special Olympics is not nationalistic. We don't play national anthems. We don't wave flags. We don't count the numbers of medals won by specific countries. It is individual effort and achievements that count.

Special Olympics is open to competitors of all ages. So we have medal winners who are eight, nine, ten, and up to ninety years of age. And we have winners who are able to compete only at the lowest level of physical ability in what we describe as the Motor Activities Training Program.

Special Olympics has a program called Special Olympics Unified Sports™. It is a program where Special Olympics athletes train and compete on teams with their peers without intellectual disabilities.

Every Special Olympics athlete has the chance to win, as they compete in divisions only with athletes of the same, or approximately the same, age and ability. Special Olympics is totally free of performance-enhancing drugs. Although we demand the best from everyone and we emphasize that competition brings out the best, we're not interested in victory at any cost. Why? Because we're interested in enhancing the ability of everyone, increasing their self-esteem and self-confidence, and improving them physically, psychologically and spiritually. This is not just a statement, but a fact that has been documented in research studies by researchers like Elisabeth Dykens, Ph.D. and Dr. Donald Cohen, MD, from the Yale Child Study Center.

We do not believe that sports are an end in themselves. We do not permit sports to dominate us or our athletes. We use sports to help people develop, not to inhibit their development in other areas. Our Special Olympics Athlete Leadership Program (ALPs) is a glowing example of this. Through this program, Special Olympics athletes are becoming leaders in our movement, serving as coaches, becoming certified officials, working as staff members in our program offices, and serving on policy making bodies. In addition, with training in our Global Messengers Program, many athletes have become effective media spokespersons for the organization worldwide.

Families are the true backbone of Special Olympics. Families help to coach and train their Special Olympics athlete. They provide transportation. They sit on Boards of Directors. They raise money. Twelve thousand parents and siblings attended the1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games. Special Olympics families from around the world met and greeted each other at dedicated family centers. Parents and families were honored at two receptions. During the Games, they wore T-shirts proudly announcing that they were the parents of a Special Olympics athlete. Families sat in specially reserved seats at each sports venue.

No wonder that in 1988, Special Olympics was formally recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). We are the only sports organization authorized to use the word "Olympics" in our title!

Special Olympics lights a candle of hope for all of the 170 million individuals with intellectual disabilities in the world. For they know that what Special Olympics athletes do, they will be able to do some day in their own towns and cities. They know that Special Olympics recognizes the God-given beauty inside every human being. They know that, having seen Special Olympics, the world will not allow their physical or mental disabilities to deter anyone from acclaiming their beauty and the glory they possess.