speical-olympics-2015

“Let me win. If I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt” – Athlete’s Oath

Founded in 1968, Special Olympics is a global sports organization, serving more than 4.4 million athletes with intellectual disabilities, providing them with a platform to participate and excel at sports. The organization provides trainings and competitions to athletes through volunteers and coaches, across the globe in over 170 countries, with main competitions held alternately in summers and winters, every four years.


The next Special Olympics World Games will be held this summer, in Los Angeles, California from 25th July 2015 to 2nd August 2015, with Pakistan proudly sending off 55 special athletes to participate in the international competition. Accompanying them will be 18 coaches and 2 delegates to represent Pakistan.

With over 32 sports categories to participate in, Pakistan’s special athletes will be taking part in nine of them including aquatics, athletics, badminton, basketball, cycling, football, power lifting, tennis and table tennis. The athletes have been receiving training in Islamabad for over a year now and have taken part in regional and national level competitions, discovering new strengths and skills, making new friends along the way.

While at the international level, Special Olympics have had support from celebrities like Rafer Johnson, Jackie Chan, Avril Lavigne, Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton, locally our very own stars including Sarwat Gillani, Shahzad Sheikh and Javed Sheikh have been big supporters of the event.

Check ourt some pictures shared by Sarwat Gilani on her official Facebook page:

Special Olympics Pakistan team has been sponsored by Agha’s, Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola, Collectibles, Etihad Airways, Faysal Bank, Lakson Investments, Lucky Cement, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and British Petroleum Pakistan.

With the aim to prove that children with intellectual disabilities can defy all odds and succeed when given the chance, Special Olympics have successfully provided these athletes with confidence, joy and recognition for over 43 years now.

The upcoming Special Olympics World Summer Games will be the largest sporting event hosted by Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympics. With over 7000 athletes, 3000 coaches, 30,000 volunteers from 177 countries  and an estimated half a million spectators, the Special Olympics World Summer Games LA  2015 will be the world’s largest sports and humanitarian event of the year.