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| Sport | Special Olympics |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Kosovo |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Pristina |
| CEO | Drita Dushi |
| Official website | |
| specialolympics-ks | |
 | |
Special Olympics Kosovo is a sporting organisation for children and adults with intellectual disabilities that operates in Kosovo. [1] It is part of the global Special Olympics movement.
Special Olympics Kosovo was founded in 2002. Athletes from Kosovo first took part in the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Dublin. This was the first time a team represented Kosovo at an international multisport event. [2] [3] [4] Kosovo has participated in every Special Olympics World Summer Games since 2003 and Special Olympics World Winter Games since 2013.
Special Olympics Kosovo offers programs in the following sports: [4]
Athletes representing Kosovo have participated in the Special Olympics World Games since 2003. Kosovo most recently participated in Berlin 2023.
Their most successful participation came at the 2019 Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi where the Kosovan delegation won three medals. [5] Sheqir Vllasaliu won gold in athletics at the 200m run. [6] While the other two remaining bronze medals where won by athlete Ibish Zogaj. [7]
So far Kosovo won three medals, one of which is Gold and two of them being Bronze. All medals where won by male athletes, in the sport of Athletics. [6] [7] [8]
| Games | Athletes |
|---|---|
 Dublin 2003 | 4 [9] |
 Shanghai 2007 | 4 |
 Athens 2011 | 4 |
 Los Angeles 2015 | 2 [10] |
 Abu Dhabi 2019 | 4 [11] |
 Berlin 2023 | 4 |
Source: [4]
| Games | Athletes |
|---|---|
 Pyongchang 2013 | 2 |
 Graz and Schladming 2017 | 2 |
 Kazan 2022 | Cancelled |
 Turin 2025 | Future event |
Source: [4]
The 2004 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, were a summer multi-sport event held in Athens, the capital city of Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. A total of 10,625 athletes from 201 countries represented by National Olympic Committees participated in these games, competing in 301 events in 28 sports. Kiribati and Timor Leste competed for the first time in these Olympic Games.
Sport in Albania revolves mostly around team sports, such as football, basketball, volleyball and handball. Other sports includes boxing, weightlifting, tennis, swimming, judo, karate, athletics, table tennis, rugby, cricket, and chess. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Albania national football team making its debut at the 1964 UEFA European Football Championship. The national football team also qualified for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship. Many Albanian athletes have also achieved significant success and have won European and Mediterranean titles in numerous sports during the years, such as wrestling, football, athletics and weightlifting. Albanian athletes have won a total 49 medals for Albania in 8 different Mediterranean sports. Albania has had some success in others sport such as volleyball and basketball as well.
Italy has sent athletes to most of the modern Olympic Games held since 1896, outside of not having "officially" participated in the 1904 Summer Olympics.
Canada has competed at 23 Summer Olympic Games, missing only the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics and the boycotted 1980 Summer Olympics. The nation made its debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics. Canada competes under the IOC country code CAN.
Venezuela first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then. Venezuela has also participated in the Winter Olympic Games since 1998. The Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV) was created in 1935.
Colombia first formally participated at the Olympic Games in 1932, and has sent athletes to compete in all but one edition of the Summer Olympic Games since then, missing only the 1952 Games. Colombian athletes have won a total of 34 Olympic medals in eight different sports, with weightlifting and cycling as the most successful ones. Colombia is the third most successful South American country at the Olympic Games, after Brazil and Argentina respectively. The Colombian Olympic Committee was created in 1936 and recognised by the International Olympic Committee in 1948.
Albania first participated at the Summer Olympic Games in 1972. They missed the next four games, three of them for political reasons due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, 1984 Summer Olympics boycott and 1988 boycotts, but returned for the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics. They have appeared in all games since then. They made their Winter Olympic Games debut in 2006. Albania normally competes in events that include swimming, athletics, weightlifting, shooting, and wrestling. The country has not yet won any Olympic medal. Along with Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malta and Monaco, Albania is one of five current European participants that have never won an Olympic medal. They have been represented by the Albanian National Olympic Committee since 1972.
The Olympic Committee of Kosovo is the National Olympic Committee representing Kosovo. Officially established in 1992, the OCK became a full member of the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Movement on 9 December 2014. It is responsible for Kosovo's participation at the Olympic Games.
Kosovo made its Olympic debut as a member state in 2016. Its team is organized by the Olympic Committee of Kosovo (OCK), created in 1992 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 9 December 2014. It won its first medal in its debut appearance in 2016, when judoka Majlinda Kelmendi took gold in the women's -52 kg category. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Nora Gjakova won gold in the women's judo -57 kg class, and Distria Krasniqi won gold in the women's judo -48 kg class.
Kosovo was a part of several international sports federations in the 1990s, and has applied to become a member of many more after its 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 except for the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
Alia Shanee Atkinson, СD is a Jamaican five-time Olympian and a former competitive swimmer whose international competition career spanned 19 years, 2003 to 2021 inclusive, at the senior level. At short course World Swimming Championships, she is a ten-time medalist in individual events, including four gold medals, four silver medals, and two bronze medals. She won a total of 124 medals, of which 74 were gold medals, at Swimming World Cup circuits over the course of her career. She won 14 total medals in individual events, 11 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze, from her first three Central American and Caribbean Games, in 2006, 2010, and 2018.
Sport in Kosovo is a tradition and plays a prominent role. Popular sports in Kosovo include football, basketball, volleyball, handball, and rugby, whereas major individual sports include wrestling, judo, swimming, boxing, karate and skiing.
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Chelsie Giles is a British judoka. She won the gold medal in the women's 52 kg event at the 2022 European Judo Championships held in Sofia, Bulgaria. She won one of the bronze medals in her event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Giles' medal was the first awarded to Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
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