Every year, Special Olympics Belgium organises the National Games. In 2024, the Games will be held in La Louvière. More than 3,000 athletes, accompanied by 1,200 coaches, are taking part in the Games in around twenty sports disciplines.
Changing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities through sport and promoting their social inclusion. This has been the mission of Special Olympics since it was founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in the United States. And it works! Since then, Special Olympics has become an international movement active in 193 countries, with more than 5.5 million athletes with a mental disability taking part in adapted sports training and Olympic-type sports competitions, as well as participating in the Healthy Athletes Programme and much more.
Special Olympics Belgium was founded in 1979 and is officially recognized by the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee. It organises National Games every year (alternatively in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia) and send delegations of Belgian athletes to the Winter and Summer Special Olympics World Games. These competitions are open to any athlete with intellectual disability who regularly practise a sport at his/her own level. More than just a physical and sport training, these activities enhance the social development of the athletes.