Special Olympics: Olympic-Like Competition for People with Disabilities

There are quite a few factors that shaped the modern-day Olympics from 1892 to 2002. Pierre de Coubertin states that he wanted to create the Olympics to spread world peace. He does this by substituting war for friendly sports competitions (doc 1). Of course, there were some bumps in the road while trying to achieve this utopia. Some factors that have changed the Olympics are the allowing of women being able to compete in the Olympics, women’s suffrage, nationalism, wars, and economic conditions (doc 2-7).

The Olympic games were an athletic competition help in Greece around every four years from 776 B.C.E. In 776 B.C.E, the first olympics were held in Athens where many competitors clashed during the sporting events. The olympics then stopped in 393 C.E. due to Theodosius I’s orders on stopping the olympic events. Later during 1896, the modern olympics began to take place. The olympics were different from the ancient olympics in that the competition was shaped due to social, political, and economic reasons.

This event happens once a year and takes place at our high school stadium. Special needs kids come from all around my community to compete in events that best suit their physical or intellectual disabilities. It is truly astounding to see a whole community come together to support these kids. At this past year's Olympics I volunteered as a peer buddy and my responsibilities included walking my buddy, Luke, to his different events and making sure he was having a good time. Luke won first place in the ball throw and second place in the 100 meter dash. I loved seeing how happy he was when he was handed his ribbons and I was so fortunate to have been able to spend the day with

Abstract: The Special Olympics not only give special athletes athletic skills, they offer more opportunity, encouragement, and dexterity to survive in society than the public school system alone. To understand the differences and similarities between handicapped athletes and their non-handicap peers is the first step in creating a program that best meets the child's needs. There were no community programs that catered to the mentally and physically challenged, so Eunice Kennedy-Shriver created "special games" in her back yard for her handicapped child. Shriver established the Special Olympics in 1968. Today there are more than one million special athletes competing in 140 countries. There are some problems with relying on the

I have gone to only three volunteer sessions and have read lots about the Special Olympics Canada (SOC). SOC wants there to be social integration so Special Olympics offers athletes a choice, the choice to train and compete in any sport. No matter their level of disability, age, religion, race, socioeconomic status or place of origin. SOC tries to reach every Canadian community so people understand who they are and how to access their programs. The SOC staff consists of people who have a passion for the sport and who are deliciated on giving the best programs/support for all those involved to enrich their personal health and safety. Subcommittees and strong teams of volunteers strive to meet those expectations. It is reinforced that every athlete's

The Olympics can be traced back as far as 776 BC. The games were devoted to the Olympian gods and took place in Olympia, which according to Greek myths is on the island of “Pelops”. The first ever Olympics were also held every four years during a religious festival and they

“Let me win, and if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt” The oath made by the courageous, dedicated, honorable men and women of the Special Olympics. Founded in 1968, Special Olympics showed the world that people with disabilities can be valued and respected, contributing members of society.

I chose Special Olympics as my nonprofit organization because I think more people need to know more about it. The Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to 5.7 million athletes and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Olympics competitions are held every day, all around the world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to more than 100,000 events a year. There are concern about children with intellectual disabilities having very little opportunity to participate in athletic events. The history of the Special Olympics started in 1969. It was a backyard summer camp when children could

The Olympics began over 2,700 years ago in Olympia which is Southwest Greece. It started off as a religious festival that was held in honor of Zeus who is the kind of gods. One rule called the Sacred Truce was that there could be no war one month before the games began. For the first 13 years, the only event in the Olympics was the stadion race which was a running race up to one length of the stadium.

There are many different factors that have shaped and contributed to the modern Olympic movements from 1892 to 2002. The original idea of the Olympics was to make an international community not through race but through sports. It was much like the war games that the Greek city-states had. The Greek had formed the games to promote unity throughout Greece. However, as time passed on world events such as women 's suffrage movements and war such as the Cold War began to change the Olympics. Other factors such as global marketing and nationalism accompanied them and became a very big factors during the 20th century.

As Americans, we live in a society where the love of sports dominates our culture. This appreciation for this cultural aspect is even shared by those who do not function properly. As a current Special Olympics volunteer and enthusiast, every athlete of any disability deserves to be able to play on any given team in the country as long as their skill complements the desired team. As U.S. citizens, we were taught to enforce equality and allow every person the respectful opportunity as you would get for any stipulation. Athletes with intellectual disabilities are longing for the opportunity to play their favorite sports, they have achieved support from all over the world due to global organizations, they disregard the opposing views as they

A powerful roar of excitement only adds to the already excentric level of thrill. An energy driven by the athletes pushing their physical and mental strength to glorify the Gods fills the stadium. The crowd filling the stands radiate with delight as heat after heat of men race down the two stade sprint (Ancient Olympic Games). The authors at Olympics.org have traced the start of the Olympics all the way back to 776 BC. The catalyst for the modern day Olympics that started in 1896, many of the sports and ceremonial things that take place today are nearly the same as in ancient times. The same as today, they were the ultimate stage of modern sports. However, the motivations, cultural effects, and history are nearly completely different from today.

Helping be a judge at the special job Olympics was a great opportunity. I actually had a lot of fun helping and talking with some of the kids. I think being a judge at that type of an event is inspiring and eye opening. Seeing kids with special needs being able to complete the task that everyone is eligible to complete is eye opening for people who think down about them and their abilities. People with special needs are able to complete almost anything that a “normal” person can do, but it might take them extra practice or concentration.

Most people know that the Olympics were started in Greece and that there must be at least one difference between the ancient Olympics and the more recent Olympics.But contrary to common belief the olympics have significally changed from when they first began ,not only has the meaning of the events changed but the athletes able to participate.

The Olympic games was firstly introduced in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, as a religious celebration to honor Zeus, a god in Ancient Greek mythology. It was a series of athletic competitions where representative from each city-state and then compete to become a winner. Nowadays, the modern Olympic games has become one of the most prestigious sport event in the world. There are thousands of participants and athletes come from hundreds of countries all over the world to compete in more than 50 sports. The first modern Games was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896 and then followed by the winter games that were started in 1924. Each game is held quadrennial with two-year difference between summer and winter games. The Olympic games is managed by International Olympic Committee (IOC) and there is also representative committee in several countries around the world which is called National Olympic Games Committee (NOC).