Special Olympics World Games

The Special Olympics World Games, also called the Special Olympiad, are an international sporting event for participants with intellectual disabilities, organised by the IOC-recognised Special Olympics organisation. Summer and Winter Games alternate, so a World Games takes place every two years, a schedule similar to the Olympics and Paralympics. Athletes compete in 32 Olympic-style summer or winter sports and are matched by ability and age in a process called divisioning. The first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held in Chicago, Illinois, in 1968 and the first Winter Games in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in February 1977; the name changed to World Summer or Winter Games in 1991. The Games can draw as many as 350,000 volunteers and coaches along with several thousand athletes.