SPECIAL OLYMPICS

international program to provide retarded persons (eight years of age or older) with year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type summer and winter sports. Inaugurated in 1968, the Special Olympics was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee on Feb. 15, 1988. International headquarters are in Washington, D.C. In June 1963, with support from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., Foundation, Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy) started a summer day-camp for retarded children at her home in Rockville, Md. Between 1963 and 1968, the Kennedy Foundation promoted the creation of dozens of similar camps in the United States and Canada. Special awards were developed for physical achievements, and by 1968 Shriver had persuaded the Chicago Park District to join with the Kennedy Foundation in sponsoring a Special Olympics, held at Soldier Field on July 1920. About 1,000 athletes from 26 U.S. states and Canada participated. The games were such a success that, in December, Special Olympics, Inc. (now Special Olympics International), was founded, with chapters in the United States, Canada, and France. The first International Winter Special Olympics Games were held on Feb. 511, 1977 (in Steamboat Springs, Colo.). The number of participating countries proliferated so that by the 1990s there were chapters in some 90 countries. Over 15,000 meets and tournaments are held worldwide each year, culminating in the International Special Olympics Games every two years, alternating between winter and summer sports and each lasting for nine days.