It all started with a children’s summer camp: in the early 1960s, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, began hosting summer camps for children with intellectual disabilities at her home. This soon grew into a nationwide effort, and in July 1968, the first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held in Chicago, Illinois. From then on, the power of sport would transform not only the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, but also the public perception of them and their capabilities. Today, more than five million athletes, a million trainers, and volunteers all over the world participate in the Special Olympics, which has been officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the world’s largest sport movement for people with intellectual disabilities.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver mit einem Athleten, sie jubeln. (Larger version opens in new window) Source: Special Olympics World Games 2023

The Special Olympics in Germany

Special Olympics Deutschland e.V. was registered in 1991 as a joint initiative of the major German organisations which promote sport for people with intellectual disabilities (such as the Lebenshilfe federal association, the German Caritas Association and the Diakonie social welfare organisation). Today, more than 40,000 athletes in all of Germany’s 16 federal states belong to Special Olympics Deutschland and regularly train at one of the more than 1,100 member facilities. Special Olympics Deutschland is a member of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) as a non-Olympic national federation.

The mission of Special Olympics is to help people with intellectual disabilities gain greater recognition and self-confidence through sport and, ultimately, play a more active part in society. Special Olympics sees itself as a movement to increase inclusion.

Competing together

The Special Olympics Unified Sports® programme is an example of inclusion in practice: in this programme, teams made up of individuals with and without intellectual disabilities train and compete together. In this way, they learn from each other and overcome barriers and inhibitions by interacting with each other as teammates.

Special Olympics Deutschland receives funding from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community. In 2023, this funding amounts to 2 million euros.