Beijing, April 7, 2005- The Special Olympics East Asia Programs have made yet another significant step towards meeting the 2005 Global Athlete Growth Goals.  The goals, developed in 2000, were an audacious attempt to increase global athlete participation from one million to two million by the end of 2005.  As of December 2004, Special Olympics East Asia is well on its way to achieving its regional athlete population goal of 523,250. 

The Special Olympics Programs in the region - China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Korea, and Macau - grew by an average of 37.5 percent (over 10 percent higher than the average global growth rate).  Quantitatively, the largest gain was made by Special Olympics China which increased the number of participating Special Olympics athletes by 109,988 people to reach a total of 407,026. The largest percentage growth was achieved by Special Olympics Hong Kong which grew at a rate of over 76 percent from 3,966 to 6,991 athletes. This was a significant achievement for a Program that experienced an athlete participation decrease in 2003 due to the SARS epidemic and the subsequent closing of all schools in Hong Kong. South Korea, the newest addition to the East Asia region, grew by over 62 percent, followed by Chinese Taipei (39.8 percent) and Macau (34.9 percent).

Athletics (track and field) remained the most popular sport with more than 91,600 athletes participating throughout the region. This was followed by basketball (45,925 participants), table tennis (30,916 participants), football (26,867), and aquatics (10,115).

The region continues to work towards equalizing gender participation. Currently, almost two thirds of all participants in the region are male. Macau led the way in increasing recruitment of and participation by female athletes with a 2.2 percent increase - over three times the regional growth average for the increase in female athlete recruitment.