Special Olympics Nigeria

The atmosphere was gay, people could be seen trouping into the University of Lagos sports complex; some of the Organizer’s were already under a canopy at the entrance registering people as they came in. The University of Lagos was playing host to the Special Olympics Nigeria, a very wonderful event indeed started on the 11th of September – 15th of September 2010. The whole place was decorated with banners in orange and green and purple and white…..but mostly orange, the colour of their major sponsor.
After registering our names and companies or organizations we represent, we were each given some pamphlets and books with the full outline of the whole 4day event in it, the history of Special Olympics in Nigeria and a short explanation about those participating in the Olympics and what it is all about. The special kids or intellectually challenged children as they are sometimes called are the main people participating in the Olympics; and like every Olympic, special kids came from all over Nigeria from the southwest, south east, south south, the north, north central etc. They all converged in Lagos today to participate in the Special Olympics from which the winners that emerge will go to Athens and participate in the Olympics.
The organizers were really wonderful and the participants were really great. The whole event which started on a Sunday and finished on Wednesday saw these special kids participating in various competitions ranging from swimming to cultural dance to football; both male and female competitions were really exciting and entertaining. all in all, it was a wonderful experience.

Special Olympics is an international movement dedicated to empowering individuals with intellectual challenges to become physically fit, productive and respected members of society through sports training and athletic competition.
The movement involves:
-more than 200 Special Olympics programs in 150 countries
-more than 2,500, 000 athletes
-26 Olympic-type summer and winter sports
-7 regional offices around the world, including Belgium, china, Egypt, India, panama, South Africa and the United States.
-approximately 500, 000 volunteers
-more than 20, 000 competitions around the world each year,
Special Olympics really need more involvement from agencies, NGO’S and individuals. It’s so wonderful to know some people dedicated so much time to making them so happy and help them blend into the society as much as possible.
For more information and how to reach them:
E-mail: Info@specialolympicsng.com
Special Olympics_ng@yahoo.com
www.specialolympicsng.com