Special Olympics Nigeria (SON) Team is in full training mode as they get ready to proudly represent the country at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games, with an 86-man delegate consisting of 60 Special Olympics Nigeria Athletes and 26 Officials. The Games will hold from the 14th – 21st of March 2019 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Special Olympics World Games takes place every 2 years alternating between summer and winter.
Austria hosted the Winter Games in 2017 where 22 athletes represented Nigeria winning 12 Gold and 10 Silver medals. Abu Dhabi will host the Summer Games in 2019 where 60 Special Olympics Nigeria athletes will participate in 8 Olympic-type sports which includes Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Football, Table-tennis, Volleyball, Swimming and Cycling with great expectations.
The World Summer Games will be the largest sports and humanitarian event in the world in 2019. It is expected to bring together 7,000 athletes, 3,000 coaches, 1,500 officials, 20,000 volunteers, 3,000 honored guests, 6,000 family members and over 500,000 thousand spectators from over 170 nations.
The 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games also marks the culmination of the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Special Olympics, and the beginning of the next fifty years of the inclusion movement. The Games will serve to expand worldwide commitment for the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in all areas of life and create a platform for a public education campaign to increase understanding, respect, and tolerance around the world.
Special Olympics Nigeria (SO Nigeria) founded in 2001, is an affiliate of Special Olympics International, a global non-profit organization founded by Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation. A global inclusion movement that aims to change attitudes and foster inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, creating a world where every single person is accepted regardless of ability or disability. Today, SO Nigeria is spread across 25 States in Nigeria with over 23, 000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities participating in year-round sports training and athletic competitions.
Anthony Nlebem
