On Saturday, June 25th the Special Olympics World Summer Games kicked off in Athens. The games will take place at the Panathinaiko Stadium, the venue where the first modern Olympic games began in 1896.
The Special Oylmpics will bring 7,000 athletes, 2,500 coaches, 40,000 family members and 3,000 representatives of the media from 180 countries to Greece, where 25,000 volunteers will assist them during 10 days of games from 25th June until 4th July. The Special Olympics will be the biggest sporting event hosted in the east Mediterranean country since the Athens 2004, Summer Games.
Timothy Shriver, the head of the Special Olympics, referring to the spirit of the Special Olympics, stressed that “Our revolution of dignity is global. Our aim is to teach the world to live united, without borders, in peace, unity, dignity and freedom without dividing walls.”
The wife of US Vice-President Joe Biden, Jill, arrived yesterday in Greece as the head of a US presidential delegation to the 2011 Special Olympics Games.”I am looking forward to watching the games and cheering the athletes,” Biden told the assembled crew of the guided missile destroyer. She was accompanied by visiting US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.
Other Dignities who will be attending the Special Olympics World Summer Games are Heads of State and Heads of Government, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople and New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch His Excellency Dr. Karolos Papoulias.
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