Over 400 Special Olympics athletes and 100 Unified Sports partners greeted 7 world renowned professional athletes in Shanghai on March 29, 2003. The professional athletes, all members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, visited the school for a Laureus Special Olympics China Unified Sports Day. This event was part of a Special Olympics China national initiative to increase the participation by youth in volunteering with Special Olympics. The purpose of Special Olympics Unified Sports is to bring together athletes with and without mental disabilities - people of similar age and athletic ability - to train and compete on the same teams.

The delegation of Laureus World Sports Academy Members included Nadia Comaneci (Olympic gymnastics gold medalist), Deng Yaping (Olympic table tennis gold medalist), Kapil Dev (champion cricket player), Michael Johnson (Olympic track and field gold medalist), Franz Klammer (Olympic skiing gold medalist), Edwin Moses (Laureaus Sport For Good Chairman and Olympic track and field gold medalist), Robby Naish (wind surfing champion), Sebastian Coe (Olympic track and field gold medalist), Daley Thompson (Olympics decathlon gold medalist). The Laureus athletes arrived at the Lu Jiazui Special School in Shanghai to an excited crowd of students lining the road and waving banners, flags, and balloons. After a press conference and a tour of the school's classrooms, the Laureus Academy Members joined the Special Olympics athletes and Unified Sports partners in a variety of sports including basketball, tennis, table tennis, floor hockey, bocce, and athletics.

Nadia Comaneci and Deng Yaping, Olympics gold medal table tennis champion from China, paired with students from the Lu Jiazui school and competed against several other Special Olympics athletes. Robby Naish joined athletes in learning how to play bocce while Franz Klammer participated in the tennis workshop. Numerous volunteers, including 12 employees from the Shanghai office of Intel, helped organize and run the event.

This is the second year that the Laureus Sport for Good foundation has supported Unified Sports in China and the second time several of the Laureus Academy members have come to Shanghai to visit Special Olympics programs. The Lu Jiazui school's Special Olympics program is sponsored by the Bayer corporation and a delegation from the corporation was on hand to attend the Unified Sports Day. Additionally, two professional tennis players from the Shanghai Racket Club - another corporate partner with Special Olympics Shanghai - attended the event to coach Special Olympics athletes on how to play tennis.