Special Olympics East Asia
Mission: "To provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community."
In China since: 1985
Annual China budget: $500,000
Number of staff: 3 national and 2 expatriate
Mainland China contact:
George Smith, Managing Director
Units 3-10A, Level 9, Tower E3, Oriental Plaza, 1 East Changan Avenue
Dong Cheng District, Beijing 100738
Tel: +86 (0)10 8518 8500 ext.5591
Activities in Other Countries:
150+ countries worldwide
This global movement to allow people with learning difficulties to realise their physical potential was started in the United States by the famous Kennedy family. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (the older brother of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Senator Edward Kennedy) was killed in action during the Second World War. The family established a foundation as a memorial to Joseph. In 1962 his sister, Eunice, began running – in her own home – sporting ‘day camps’ for mentally handicapped youngsters. In the following years, colleges and community groups hosted similar events across the United States, with sponsorship from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation. In 1968 a first international games took place in Chicago, bringing together 1,000 mentally handicapped athletes from 26 US states and Canada. Since then, Special Olympics has become a global movement involving more than 1.4 million athletes from 150 countries.
Special Olympics began working in China in 1985 and hosted its first competition in Shenzhen in 1987. It aims, by 2005, to involve 500,000 Chinese youngsters in training and competition in summer and winter sports, including: basketball, badminton, cycling, soccer, gymnastics, volleyball, speed skating, figure skating, floor hockey, table tennis, tennis, bowling, and weight lifting. Unlike the traditional Olympics, where the focus is on a competition that occurs every four years, the main focus of Special Olympics is to create programs that occur day to day so that athletes are in year-round.
Special Olympics works with the Ministry of Education and the China Disabled Persons Federation, bringing together educators, coaches, school administrators, and families to run special sports programmes in their own regions. Within the current planning framework, activities will be initiated in forty five regions across the country.
In 2003, Special Olympics worldwide income was USD 89 million. Of this, USD 41.5 million was contributed by individuals, and USD 31.6 million by businesses. The China programme was funded mainly by corporate sponsors, including News Corporation, STAR TV, Intel, Laureus Sports for Good Foundation, JP Morgan Chase Foundation, OTIS Corporation, Burson Marsteller, Bayer Corporation, Nike, the Shanghai Racquet Club, The American Chamber of Commerce-Shanghai, Walmart, Daimler-Chrysler.
Links
http://www.specialolympics.org.cn
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