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Special Olympics Ireland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Special Olympics Ireland
SportSpecial Olympics
JurisdictionIreland
Founded1978
HeadquartersDublin
CEOMatt English
Official website
www.specialolympics.ie

Special Olympics Ireland is a sporting organisation for children and adults with intellectual disabilities that operates in the Island of Ireland. It is part of the global Special Olympics movement.

History

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The organization was founded in 1978 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver to provide children and adults with a year-round sports programme .[1] The organisation was made up of 27,000 athletes.[2] At the time, it was one of the first European programmes of the international Special Olympics movement.

Purpose

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Special Olympics Ireland creates opportunities for children and adults with learning (intellectual) disabilities to take part in various sports training and competition year-round. To be eligible to take part in the Special Olympics programmes, participants have to have an intellectual/learning disability.

Organisation

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In 2021, there were more than 8,000 Special Olympics athletes, aged 4 with no upper age limit, participating in 15 sports in 290 clubs throughout the island of Ireland.[3] These athletes benefit from taking regular sport training and competition programmes. It is broken up into five regions: Special Olympics Connaught, Special Olympics Leinster, Special Olympics Munster, Special Olympics Ulster and Special Olympics Eastern Region, which is for the Dublin Clubs.

Special Olympics Ireland Games

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The Special Olympics Ireland Games are held every four years.

Editions

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Edition Year Host City
I 2006 Belfast
II 2010 Limerick
III 2014 Limerick
IV 2018 Dublin
V 2022 TBD

References

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  1. ^ "A Very Special Olympics". Irish America. 2003-08-01. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  2. ^ Watterson, Johnny. "Games expected to attract 30,000". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  3. ^ Hutton, Brian. "Special Olympics funding 'severely hampered' by pandemic". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
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