On top of the traditional St Patrick's Day celebrations, Lexis Sport had another very special reason to celebrate on March 17th. Last Thursday marked the 100 day count down to the Special Olympics World Summer Games, to be held in Athens.
The event is billed as 'the Olympics before the Olympics' and rightly so, as 7,500 Special Olympics athletes from 185 countries around the world compete. The games are the largest multi-sport event in the world.
Special Olympics Great Britain (SOGB) is a charity that provides year round sports training and competition for children and young adults with learning disabilities. The work that SOGB does is vital as over 1.2 million people in the UK have learning disabilities, many of whom suffer from obesity and a lack of confidence. SOGB gives them a place to go to improve their fitness, make friends and learn new skills. The charity is proud to be sending a delegation of 215 athletes and volunteer coaches to the World Summer Games in July.
Omar Haddad, a 22 year old Special Olympics Athlete, is tipped to be one of the young British stars in Athens. Omar will compete in the solo Artistic Gymnastics category and has previously won national championships. Omar was also the star of a Special Olympics campaign called 'Encouragement', which aimed to illustrate to parents how encouragement helps people with learning disabilities transform their lives through sport. Omar travelled to Wembley Stadium to perform a gymnastics routine, which was filmed and turned into a short interactive film.
The film can be viewed here: http://www.encourageomar.co.uk/
So as the excitement builds before the Olympics visit Britain in 2012, don't forget to show your support for the Special Olympics World Summer Games this summer!
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