GANGWON-DO < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

An international sporting event for athletes with intellectual disabilities will kick off in the South Korean alpine town of PyeongChang Tuesday, with more than 3,100 athletes from 111 countries taking part.

The Special Olympics World Winter Games will go on until Feb. 5 in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul. Athletes will compete in seven sports, including alpine skiing, snowboarding, speed skating and figure skating, plus one demonstration sport, floorball. The host country will have 169 athletes and 67 officials taking part in every event.

The Special Olympics World Games have been held every two years since 1968, and they alternate between summer and winter editions. The winter version was introduced in 1977. PyeongChang is the first South Korean host of Special Olympics World Games.

Under the motto "Together We Can," the organizers said they hope to raise awareness of those with intellectual disabilities in South Korea and to help improve their plight.

Na Kyung-won, a former lawmaker and head of the organizing committee, said PyeongChang is all ready to start the event.

"I am confident our Special Olympics will be a successful one," Na said in a statement released by the organizing team. "I'd like to thank all of our athletes and volunteers who've put in time and energy in preparing for this event. Also, I'd like to thank in advance everyone who will welcome and embrace them during the World Winter Games."

Anyone over the age of 8 with intellectual disabilities can participate in the Special Olympics. The Special Games don't keep track of medal tallies for participating countries. The top three finishers in each event are awarded medals but all finalists also receive ribbons.

  

The athletes' oath in these competitions is "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

PyeongChang will also stage a series of non-sports events on the sidelines of the World Winter Games. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's opposition leader, will be a keynote speaker at the Global Development Summit set for Wednesday. Under the theme "Ending the Cycle of Poverty and Exclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities," the meeting is aimed at "raising awareness about the dimensions of deprivation that people with intellectual disabilities experience in low-income communities across the globe," organizers have said.

In the program titled Unified Sports Experience, star athletes without intellectual disabilities will try their hands at World Winter Games events with Special Olympics athletes. Among South Korean athletes expected to participate are Lee Bong-joo, an Olympic marathon silver medalist, and Kim Dong-sung, an Olympic short track champion. From overseas, Michelle Kwan, a five-time world figure skating champion, and Yao Ming, an eight-time NBA All-Star, will team up with athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Throughout the World Winter Games, Special Olympics Festival will also include music concerts and other art performances, including those by artists with intellectual disabilities.

The Special Olympics movement was founded by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a younger sister of the former U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Timothy Shriver, son of Eunice, is currently the chairman of Special Olympics International, the governing body of the Special Games.

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Jan. 28, 2013)