Michelle Obama opens Special Olympics in Los Angeles

The opening ceremony of the Special Olympic World Games on Saturday, 25 July, signaled the start of the event for thousands of athletes with intellectual disabilities. Held in Los Angeles (U.S.) this year, the festive ceremony was filled with cheers, songs and praise for the athletes’ courage and determination.

Welcoming the sports people was none other than Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States. She said that the athletes were an example to millions of people watching the event on television, and added,

“My husband and I, we are so proud of you, so incredibly proud of you, and we love you all from the bottom of our hearts.”

Earlier, President Barack Obama welcomed the athletes by video.

About 6500 athletes from 165 countries streamed into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to cheers and roars. They will participate in 25 sports from 25 July to 2 August 2015, ranging from aquatics to golf to triathlon to volleyball.

Los Angeles also hosted the Special Olympics in 1972. But the 2015 Special Olympics is the largest gathering of athletes in the city since the 1984 Summer Olympics.

The groups of athletes wore distinctive colors according to the countries they were representing but carried no national flags. However, Special Olympics athletes and Olympic gold medalists including swimmer Michael Phelps, diver Greg Louganis and skater Michelle Kwan together carried in the Special Olympics flag.

A flaming torch carried from Greece was used to light the Coliseum’s Olympic beacon. The three-hour ceremony included fireworks and musical performances by Avril Lavigne, Stevie Wonder and reggae artist J Balvin.

The games were started by former US President John Kennedy’s sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968, who believed that everybody should have a chance to feel special.

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)