Los Angeles will be hosting 7,000 Special Olympics athletes and 3,000 coaches from more than 170 countries in these games.
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Delegates arriving from as far as Portugal and Bahrain were taken to LMU this morning in buses.
“I am a special olympics runner”, said Carrozzo’s translator for the athlete.
While some of those stranded were exhausted after their long trips, the majority made the most of the circumstances, Perelman said, playing board games and making friends with fellow athletes from other countries.
‘Everyone was very happy when breakfast arrived at 6:30 a.m.,’ he said.
This photo provided by KNX1070 Newsradio shows Special Olympics…
‘It was probably a little on the small side, ‘ Olympic icon Rafer Johnson, who welcomed those competitors in 1968, recalled recently with a chuckle, ‘but it had an unbelievable amount of enthusiasm.’.
Runner Dale Smit said he lived on the South Island of New Zealand and competed in the Special Olympics in China, where he earned gold and silver medals.
Athletes ages 8 to 71 will compete in soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, track, roller skating and other sports over nine days.
The Irish team will stay in the city of Downey in southeast Los Angeles County as part of the Host Town programme, ahead of Saturday’s Opening ceremony.
Deemed the official torch for the Special Olympics, the Flame of Hope has been traveling across the world to Los Angeles since it was formally lit in Athens in May.
According to the chief executive of Special Olympics Ireland, Matt English, the event marks the culmination of four years of training and strenuous effort for all the competitors taking part.
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Musicians Stevie Wonder and Avril Lavigne are among those who will perform in the opening rites. Special Olympics transforms the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, allowing them to realize their full potential in sports and in life. After years of holding a smaller version in her backyard, she took them worldwide in 1968.
