Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to 5 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. Like the International Paralympic Committee, the Special Olympics organization is recognized by the International Olympic Committee; however, unlike the Paralympic Games, Special Olympics World Games are not held in the same year or in conjunction with the Olympic Games.
The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olympic torch relay, which formally ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The flame then continues to burn in the cauldron for the duration of the Games, until it is extinguished during the Olympic closing ceremony.
The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which were held in Stockholm, Sweden in June 1956.
The 2000 Paralympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia, from 18 to 29 October. In September 1993, Sydney won the rights to host the 2000 Paralympic Games. To secure this right it was expected that the New South Wales Government would underwrite the budget for the games. The Sydney games were the 11th Summer Paralympic Games, where an estimated 3,800 athletes took part in the programme. They commenced with the opening ceremony on 18 October 2000. It was followed by the 11 days of fierce international competition and was the second largest sporting event ever held in Australia. They were also the first Paralympic Games outside the Northern Hemisphere.
The 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games were hosted in Dublin Ireland, with participants staying in various host towns around the island in the lead up to the games before moving to Dublin for the events. Events were held from 21–29 June 2003 at many venues including Morton Stadium, the Royal Dublin Society, the National Basketball Arena, all in Dublin. Croke Park served as the central stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies, even though no competitions took place there. Belfast, Northern Ireland was the venue for roller skating events, as well as the Special Olympics Scientific Symposium.
Relay For Life is a community-based fundraising event for the American Cancer Society and many other Cancer related institutions, societies and associations. Each year, more than 5,000 Relay For Life events take place in over twenty countries. Events are held in local communities, campus universities and in virtual worlds. As the American Cancer Society's most successful fundraiser and the organization's signature event, the mission of Relay For Life is to raise funds to improve cancer survival, decrease the incidence of cancer, and improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their caretakers.
The Canadian Cancer Society is a national, community-based charitable organization of volunteers whose mission is to eradicate cancer and enhance the quality of life of those who have the disease.
The 2006 Asian Games, officially known as the XV Asiad, was an Asian multi-sport event held in Doha, Qatar from December 1 to 15, 2006 with 424 events in 39 sports featured in the games. Doha was the first city in its region and only the second in West Asia to host the games.
Richard Kevan Gosper, AO is an Australian former athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was formerly a Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, and combined Chairman and CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, Australia.
The 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from March 24 until August 8, 2008, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, with the theme of "one world, one dream". Plans for the relay were announced on April 26, 2007, in Beijing, China. The relay, also called by the organizers as the "Journey of Harmony", lasted 129 days and carried the torch 137,000 km (85,000 mi) – the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition was started ahead of the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Special Olympics Canada is a national organization founded in 1969 to help people with intellectual disabilities develop self-confidence and social skills through sports training and competition.
Athens 2010 Youth Olympics Bid is the official bid of Athens in order to host the first Youth Olympics. The Athens bid is one of the strong favourites as the Ancient Olympics started here, the Modern Olympics did as well. Athens was the host of the 1896 Summer Olympics the 2004 Summer Olympics and seven IOC Sessions. As stated on their website, Athens is eager to host the Games not only to utilize their state of the art venues, but to establish the Youth Olympics in the "birthplace" of the Modern and Ancient Games.
The 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games, officially known as II Summer Youth Olympic Games, were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports, education and cultural festival for teenagers, held from 16 to 28 August 2014 in Nanjing, China. These were the second Olympic Games held in China after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The Shelburne Police Service (SPS) is the police force for the Town of Shelburne, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1879 and currently consists of 23 members, including 15 police officers, 4 auxiliary police officers, 2 civilian support members. These members provide emergency responses to approximately 8500 residents, responding to more than 4000 calls per year.
The 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from 19 May until 27 July, prior to the London 2012 Summer Olympics. The torch bearer selection process was announced on 18 May 2011.
The Flame of Hope is the symbol of the Special Olympics.
The 1976 Summer Olympics torch relay celebrated the first time that a Canadian city had hosted the Games. Convention states that the flame should be lit at Olympia in Greece and then transported to Athens, making its way onwards to the host city. On this occasion a signal was sent via satellite to transmit the flame to Ottawa where it would then make its way to the 1976 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Montreal and a second ceremony in Kingston, Ontario.
The 2000 Summer Olympics torch relay was the transferral of the Olympic Flame to Sydney, Australia that built up to the 2000 Summer Olympics. The torch travelled to various island nations as part of a tour of Oceania before beginning an extensive journey around Australia. For the first time the Flame was taken underwater, with a special flare-like torch taken on a dive down to the Great Barrier Reef. At the opening ceremony the cauldron was lit by Aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman.
The 1984 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from May 8 until July 28, prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The route covered around 15,000 kilometres (9,300 mi) across the United States and involved over 3,600 torchbearers. Rafer Johnson lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony. The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) tasked Burson-Marsteller, the public relations agency of AT&T, with the organization of the relay. The Youth Legacy Kilometer, pioneered the idea of runners being nominated by the public.
The 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay will run from 12 March until 24 July 2020. After being lit in Olympia, Greece, the torch will travel to Athens on 19 March. The Japanese leg will begin in Fukushima, and will end in Tokyo's New National Stadium, the main venue of the 2020 Olympics. It will visit Japanese cities, including all 47 prefectural capitals. The torch is reported to go to two remote islands which are part of Tokyo. The end of the relay will be the finale of the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Toyota, NTT, JXTG, Nippon Life, JAL, ANA and Japan Post Holdings are the presenting partners of the relay with the slogan being "Hope Lights Our Way".
