The largest inclusive sports event.

The 2023 Special Olympics World Games Berlin will open at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on 17 June. The Games are the world’s largest inclusive sports event. Several thousand athletes with intellectual and multiple disabilities will be competing in 26 disciplines until 25 June. We answer key questions about this global event.

What is the Special Olympics?  

Special Olympics International (SOI) is a global movement whose aim is inclusion of people with intellectual and multiple disabilities. At the same time, it is the world’s largest sports event with this goal. Officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which organises the Olympic Games, it is the only sports movement besides the Olympic Games to be allowed to use the title “Olympics”. More than five million people in 174 countries take part in sports under the umbrella of the Special Olympics. 

What does the Special Olympics hope to achieve? 

Ever since the Special Olympics was founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968, its goal has been to help people with intellectual disabilities achieve greater acceptance and fulfilled lives through sports. Besides staging competitions, various sports-based health programmes are another central objective that the movement has set itself.  

What are the Special Olympics World Games?  

Every two years, a host country stages the Special Olympics World Games, alternating between summer and winter games. The World Games see thousands of athletes compete against one another - though the focus is more on amateur than on competitive sports. No national anthems are played and, though medals are awarded, they do not count towards countries. Because the athletes are divided up into various homogenous groups according to ability, everyone has the chance to win, be it in the qualifiers or in the World Games themselves. 

Are the Special Olympics World Games the same as the Paralympics? 

No. They differ fundamentally in their approach. Anyone with an intellectual disability (this is a requirement), or with multiple disabilities can train and take part in competitions at the Special Olympics. Because participants are divided into homogenous groups according to ability, nobody is excluded due to a lack of athletic prowess.  

The Paralympics, on the other hand, is based on strictly competitive athletic criteria and geared primarily to athletes with physical disabilities who achieve top-class performance in the competitions.  

What is special about the Special Olympics in Berlin? 

7,000 athletes and Unified partners, who do sport together with them, will be coming to Berlin from 190 nations to take part. They will be accompanied by 3,000 trainers and supervisors and 9,000 family members. Around 20,000 volunteers will help out at the Games. They are the biggest multi-sports event to take place in Germany since the Munich Olympics in 1972. 

What is the slogan of the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin? 

#ZusammenUnschlagbar (#UnbeatableTogether). This is intended to convey the vision of an inclusive society through the connecting power ofsport.  

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