Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is a hall of fame established in 1955 to "preserve the record of Canadian sports achievements and to promote a greater awareness of Canada's heritage of sport." It is located at Canada Olympic Park in Alberta. There are 611 honoured members of the hall; the Hall, first known as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, was founded in 1955 through the efforts of Harry I. Price, a former assistant athletics commissioner of Ontario, it was first housed in the Stanley Barracks, located in Toronto on the grounds of Exhibition Place. It moved in 1961 to a wing of a new building shared with the Hockey Hall of Fame; the Hockey Hall of Fame moved out in 1993. Without the Hockey Hall of Fame, attendance declined and the Sports Hall made plans to move to Ottawa; the move to Ottawa never took place, because the venues promised for the Hall by the federal government were allocated for other uses, the move was cancelled. In 2006, the Hall of Fame building was demolished to make way for BMO Field and the collection moved to the Stanley Barracks in preparation for an opening in some new location.
One facade, which incorporated a tile mosaic, was incorporated into the BMO Field structure. Nine cities across the country bid for the right to host the new hall, in 2008, a proposed site at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary was chosen; the new facility opened on Canada Day, July 1, 2011. It has numerous interactive displays. Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is presently located in Alberta. However, prior to 2006, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame was located in Toronto, Ontario, at Exhibition Place, the fair grounds for the Canadian National Exhibition. From 1955 to 2006, the Sports Hall of Fame located moved to several locations in Exhibition Place, they include: New Fort York, 1955-1957 CNE Press Building, 1957-1961 Canada Sports Hall of Fame Building, 1961-2006 New Fort York, 2006 Six people were inducted into the hall as part of its 2011 class: Lui Passaglia, football player Ray Bourque, hockey player Peter Reid, triathlete Lauren Woolstencroft, paralympian Andrea Neil, soccer player Dick Pound, International Olympic Committee memberOn October 17, 2012, the 2012 class of inductees were: Marion Lay, swimmer and 1968 Olympic bronze medalist Pierre Lueders, Olympic bobsleigh champion Charmaine Hooper, soccer player Scott Niedermayer, hockey player and 2002 & 2010 Olympic gold medalist Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, figure skaters and 2002 Olympic gold medalists Derek Porter, rower and 1992 Olympic gold & 1996 Olympic silver medalist Daryl "Doc" Seaman, part owner of the Calgary Flames, among the six businessmen who moved the Flames from Atlanta to Calgary in 1980 Jeremy Wotherspoon, speed skater and 1998 Olympic silver medalistOn October 16, 2013, the 2013 class of inductees were: Joe Sakic, ice hockey Russ Howard, curling Alison Sydor, cycling Kirsten Barnes, Jessica Monroe, Brenda Taylor, Kay Worthington, Jennifer Walinga,1992 Canadian women's Olympic coxless fours Murray Costello, ice hockey player and executive Jean-Guy Ouellet, national sport advisor and international official André Viger, wheelchair marathoner and ParalympianOn October 22, 2014, the 2014 class of inductees were: Horst Bulau, ski jumping Sarah Burke, freestyle skier Pierre Harvey and cross-country skiing Geraldine Heaney, ice hockey Elizabeth Manley, figure skating Gareth Rees, rugby Tim Frick, women's wheelchair basketball coach Kathy Shields, women's basketball coachOn October 21, 2015, the 2015 class of inductees were: Paul Coffey, ice hockey Jennifer Heil, freestyle skiing and 2006 Olympic gold & 2010 Olympic silver medalist Danielle Goyette, ice hockey and 2002 & 2006 Olympic gold & 1998 Olympic silver medalist Craig Forrest, soccer and 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup winner Susan Auch, speed skater and 1994 & 1998 Olympic silver & 1988 Olympic bronze medalist Nicolas Gill, judo and 2000 Olympic silver & 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Michael Edgson, Paralympic swimmer and 18-time Paralympic gold medalist Sharon Firth and Shirley Firth, cross-country skiers Lori-Ann Muenzer, track cyclist and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Jocelyne Bourassa, golf Marina van der Merwe, field hockeyOn June 17, 2015, the Sport Legends class of inductees were: Canadian Sport Legends Class, athletes Canadian Sport Legend Category, builders Official website
Team sport
A team sport includes any sport where individuals are organized into opposing teams which compete to win. Team members act together towards a shared objective; this can be done in a number of ways such as outscoring the opposing team. Team members set goals, make decisions, manage conflict, solve problems in a supportive, trusting atmosphere in order to accomplish their objectives. Examples are basketball, rugby, water polo, lacrosse, cricket and the various forms of football and hockey. Team sports are practiced between opposing teams, where the players interact directly and between them to achieve an objective; the objective involves teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or similar object in accordance with a set of rules, in order to score points. The meaning of a "team sport" has been disputed in recent years; some types of sports have different rules than "traditional" team sports. These types of team sports do not involve teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or similar item in accordance with a set of rules, in order to score points.
For example, rowing, dragon boat racing, track and field among others can be considered team sports. In other types of team sports, there may not be an opposing team or point scoring, for example, mountaineering. Instead of points scored against an opposing team, the relative difficulty of the climb or walk is the measure of the achievement. In some sports where participants are entered by a team, they do not only compete against members of other teams but against each other for points towards championship standings. For example, motorsport Formula One. In cycling however, team members whilst still in competition with each other, will work towards assisting one a specialist, member of the team to the highest possible finishing position; this process is known as team orders and although accepted was banned in Formula One between 2002 and 2010. After a controversy involving team orders at the 2010 German Grand Prix however, the regulation was removed as of the 2011 season. Through the years, the popularity of team sport has continued to grow, positively influencing not just athletes, but fans and national economies.
All over the world, the impact of team sport can be seen as professional athletes live out their dreams while serving as role models, youth athletes develop life skills and follow in the footsteps of their role models, fans bond over the love of their teams while supporting their economies with their support. Traces of sprinting as a team sport extend back several thousand years - as evidenced in images in the cave in Lascaux in France which depict people running after animals or vice versa. Organized athletics in Greece traditionally date back to 776 BC, with ongoing activity recorded up to 393 BC; these ancient Olympic Games tested warrior skills and consisted of running, jumping or leaping and javelin throw. In the Bayankhongor Province of Mongolia, Neolithic-era cave paintings dating to 7000 BC depict a wrestling match surrounded by crowds. Prehistoric cave-paintings in Japan show a sport similar to sumo wrestling. In Wadi Sura, near Gilf Kebir in Libya, a Neolithic rock painting in the cave of swimmers shows evidence of swimming and archery being practiced around 6000 BC.
The term "athlete", according to mythology, derives from the name of Aethlius, the mythological first King of Elis in Greece. The practice of young athletes carrying flaming torches is traced to the King of Elis, under whose supervision the games took place. Before the start of the races gods were invoked by offerings of fruits and vegetables; the winner of the race was crowned with a wreath of olive or laurel and celery sticks were offered as a trophy. In subsequent years monetary attractions were introduced as prize money. However, the practice of offering celery sticks is still in vogue in the 100 m sprint in the Olympics; the present-day pattern of Olympic Games resembles the practice followed in ancient times. Sprint was the coveted event; the 200 m sprint is known in Greek as "short foot race". The 400 m race called diaulos in Greek. Seven team sports are on the program of the Summer Olympics. Cricket's inclusion in the 2024 Summer Olympics depends on the decision of the International Cricket Council and its members.
A cricket tournament formed part of the Summer Olympics in 1900, although only one match was played, between teams representing Great Britain and France. However, the British team was a club touring side and the French players were drawn from expatriates living in Paris. Ice hockey and curling are team sports at the Winter Olympics together with the bobsleigh competition where the men's event has classes for both two-man and four-man sleds, but the women's class is restricted to two persons only. All Olympic team sports include competitions for both women. Team sports portal Major professional sports teams of the United States and Canada Footnotes BibliographyBaofu, Peter; the Future of Post-Human Sports: Towards a New Theory of Training and Winning. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-6993-5. Barber, Gary. Getting Started in Track and Field Athletics: Advice & Ideas for Children and Teachers. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4122-3847-2. Filppu, The Benefits of Team Sports, retrieved 13 November 2010 Dyer, William.
Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance. San Francisco, Ca.: Jossey-Bass. ISBN
Slamball
Slamball is a form of basketball played with four trampolines in front of each net and boards around the court edge. The name SlamBall is the trademark of SlamBall, LLC. While SlamBall is based on basketball, it is a contact sport, with blocks and rough physical play a part of the game, similar to elements of football and hockey. Professional SlamBall games aired on television with Spike TV for two seasons in 2002–2003, the POWERade SlamBall Challenge was aired on CSTV, now CBS Sports Network, in 2007. SlamBall returned in August 2008, airing on Versus, now NBC Sports Network, CBS; the 2008 SlamBall season aired at one point on weekends on Cartoon Network. Slamball was shown on One HD in Australia during 2009. SlamBall held its first major international tournament in China in 2012. Scoring is achieved by putting the ball into the net at the opponent's end of the court for points, while preventing the opposing team from doing the same at one's own net; the aim is to have outscored the opposing team.
A successful score can be worth two points if the ball is thrown through the hoop without the offensive player touching the hoop. Slam dunks are scored three points. All shots outside the three-point arc are worth three points as well. Four players from each team may be on the court at one time. Substitutions can be done during play; each team has a coach and additional staff which includes assistant coaches, statisticians, etc. The game is controlled by the table officials; the table keeps track of the score, team possessions and the shot clock. Games are played unlike the NBA, which plays for four 12-minute quarters; the game commences with a "bounce-off". The ball must reach its apex uninterrupted, at which point the players are allowed to "check" each other. Ten minutes are allowed for a half-time break. A 15-second shot clock is utilized. Teams change ends for the second half. A tie score at the end of regulation time is settled by a series of "face offs"; each team has four players on the court at any one time.
There are three positions: Handler: This is the primary ball handler on the team. It is his job to run the offense and organize the other members while controlling the flow of the game, he would be responsible to set up the gunners to attack the basket while adding in his own offensive threat, comparable to a point guard in basketball. Gunner: The primary scorer on the team. A team's gunner will be the player on the team that will attack the basket and finish plays against the opposing teams' stopper, comparable to a forward or wing player in soccer or hockey. Stopper: This position is for the primary defensive player, he trails the offense only when necessary, he protects the rim from attacking players by using himself as a shield. Goaltending is legal. Teams are free to choose their own configuration, the usual formations being 1 stopper, 2 handlers, 1 gunner OR 1 stopper, 1 handler, 2 gunners; each player can commit just three personal fouls. A coach or player displaying poor sportsmanship may be charged with a technical foul.
Two technical fouls results in a disqualification. When a foul is called, the player who has committed it will take position on the baseline of the lower trampolines while the player, offended will take up offensive position at center court; this is called a face-off. Upon a signal from the referee the offensive player will be free to mount an attack at the basket, which the defender now must endeavor to stop; the defender must enter the lower trampoline only after bouncing in from the side trampoline. If the offensive player is successful points will be awarded depending on the shot converted and the offensive players' team will retain possession of the ball. In the case of any tie-ups, the defensive team always gain possession, but if the shot was blocked, the offensive team retains the ball from center court. List of Common Fouls: When an offensive player has the ball and a defensive player checks him in the back. Result: Faceoff When an offensive player has the ball and a defensive player checks him before he has begun to dribble the ball.
Result: Faceoff When an offensive player has the ball and a defensive player checks him while he is attempting to enter the trampoline. Result: Faceoff When two offensive players step/bounce on the same trampoline. Result: Turnover When an offensive player bounces on a trampoline twice while in possession of the ball. Result: Turnover When either a Player or the Coach of a team argues with the referee and uses physical or verbal abuse in anger. Result: Can either be a Faceoff or Turnover When two players from the same team are on the same island or trampoline, or'station' as it is called. Result: Turnover Three-second violation: When any offensive player is stationed in an island area for three seconds. Result: Turnover When a shot is attempted from an island. Result: Turnover When the defense holds position on an island, a charge can be called against the opposition. Result: Turnover. Popcorn effect: When a defensive player deliberately interferes with the offensive player's bounce, caused by standing on the offensive player's landing spot to cause the equivalent of a trip in basketball.
Result: Faceoff The spring floor lies adjacent to two sets of four trampoline or sp
Floorball
Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. Men and women play indoors with 96–115.5 cm-long sticks and a 22–23 cm-circumference plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods. Floorball was included in the World Games for the first time in 2017 in Poland. Sweden were the first World Games gold medal winners, its origins can be traced back to Michigan Lake in the 1960s where a game called Cosom Hockey was developed, although the present type of floorball was invented in Sweden in the 1970s. Floorball is most popular where it has been developed the longest, such as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Norway and Switzerland, it is gaining popularity in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, the United States. And the United Kingdom; as of 2014, there are over 300,133 registered floorball players worldwide. Professional leagues include Sweden's Svenska Superligan; the sport is organized internationally by the International Floorball Federation.
Events include an annual Euro Floorball Cup for club teams and the biennial World Floorball Championships with separate divisions for men and women. While the IFF contains 58 members, the Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland have placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the World Floorball Championships; the sport is new and therefore evolving. The basic rules were established in 1979 when the first floorball club in the world, Sala IBK from Sala, was founded in Sweden. Official rules for matches were first written down in 1981. In various forms the game has been played since the early 20th Century in Canada as a recreational sport in high school gymnasiums, as a playful variant of hockey, where the sticks got their form from the hockey game bandy. Most Canadian males before could attest to this. During the 1950s and 1960s many public school systems within Michigan incorporated floorball into their primary and secondary school gym classes. Americans claimed to have invented it, held interstate tournaments in the 1960s.
The game was formally organized as an international and more organised sport in the late 1970s in Gothenburg, Sweden. The sport began as something, played for fun as a pastime in schools. After a decade or so, floorball began showing up in Nordic countries where the former schoolyard pastime was becoming a developed sport. Formal rules soon were developed, clubs began to form. After some time, several countries developed national associations, the IFF was founded in 1986; the game of floorball is known by many other names, such as salibandy and unihockey. The names "salibandy" and "innebandy" are derived from bandy. Unihockey is derived from "universal hockey" since it is meant to be a special and simplified hockey form; when the IFF was founded in 1986, the sport was played in Nordic countries and several parts of Europe. By 1990, floorball was recognized in 7 countries, by the time of the first European Floorball Championships in 1994, that number had risen to 14; that number included the United States, the first country outside of Europe and Asia to recognize floorball.
By the time of the first men's world championships in 1996, 20 nations played floorball, with 12 of them participating at the tournament. As of 2009, the sport of floorball has been played in 80 countries. Of those, 58 have national floorball associations that are recognized by the IFF. With the addition of Sierra Leone, Africa's first floorball nation, the IFF has at least one national association on each continent of the world, with the exception of Antarctica. 10 years after the IFF was founded, the first world championships were played, with a sold out final of 15,106 people at the Globen in Stockholm, Sweden. In addition to that, the world's two largest floorball leagues, Finland's Salibandyliiga and Sweden's Svenska Superligan were formed, in 1986 and 1995 respectively. In December 2008, the IFF and the sport of floorball received recognition from the International Olympic Committee. In July 2011, the IOC welcomed the IFF into its family of Recognised International Sports Federations; this will pave the way for floorball to enter the official sport programme.
The IFF hopes that this recognition will help allow floorball to become a part of the 2020 Summer Olympics. In January 2009, the IFF and the sport of floorball received recognition from the Special Olympics. In addition to recognition by the International Olympic Committee and Special Olympics, the IFF is a member of the Sport Accord – known as General Association of International Sports Federations, co-operates with the International University Sports Federation. Floorball is now member of IWGA which runs the World Games and floorball will be for the first time on programme in Wrocław 2017; the world floorball championships are an annual event where teams from across the world gather to play in a tournament in order to win the world championship. As of 2011, eight Men's, eight Women's, six Men's Under-19, four Women's Under-19 World Floorball Championships have taken place; the Czech Republic, Norway and Switzerland remain the only five countries to have captured a medal at a World Championship event.
The Men's World Floorball Championships take place every December in every year. The Women's World Floorball Championships take place every December in every odd year; the Men's under-19 World Floorball
Amputee football
Amputee football is a disabled sport played with seven players on each team. Outfield players have lower extremity amputations, goalkeepers have an upper extremity amputation. Outfield players use loftstrand crutches, play without their prosthesis. There are several amputee football associations around the world. A couple examples of this are the England Amputee Association and The Irish Amputee Football Association; each organization promotes the advancement of the sport. The England Amputee Football Association states their main goal on their website as: "The England Amputee Football Association's aim is to provide all amputees, people with congenital limb deficiencies and persons with restricted use of limbs, with the opportunity to play football locally and internationally." Former name: Amputee Football World Championships The official FIFA sanctioned rules are: An amputee is defined as someone who is'abbreviated' at or near the ankle or wrist. Outfield players may have two hands but only one leg, whereas goalkeepers may have two feet but only one hand.
The game is played with metal crutches and without prostheses, the only exception being that bi-lateral amputees may play with a prosthesis. Players may not use crutches to control or block the ball; such an action will be penalised in the same way as a handball infringement. However, incidental contact between crutch and ball is tolerated. Players may not use their residual limbs to voluntarily control or block the ball; such an action will be penalised in the same way as a handball infringement. However, incidental contact between residual limb and ball is tolerated. Shin pads must be worn. Use of a crutch against a player will lead to ejection from the game and a penalty kick for the opposing team; the pitch measures a maximum of 70 x 60 metres The dimensions of the goals are 2.2 metres maximum x 5 metres maximum x 1 metre A FIFA standard ball is used Games consist of two 25-minute halves, with a ten-minute rest period in between Both teams are allowed a two-minute time-out per game Offside rules do not apply in amputee football International rules stipulate that a team be made up of six outfield players and a goalkeeper.
However, certain tournaments require teams of four outfield players plus goalkeeper, as was the case in Sierra Leone. A goalkeeper is not permitted to leave her area. Should this occur deliberately, the goalkeeper will be ejected from the game and the opposing team awarded a penalty kick. An unlimited number of substitutions can be made, at any point during the game. Amputee Football World Cup Team Zaryen European Amputee Football Federation Official website History of Amputee Soccer
Beach soccer
Beach Soccer known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. The game emphasises skill and accuracy in shooting at the goal. Whilst football has been played informally on beaches for many years, the introduction of beach soccer was an attempt to codify rules for the game; this was done in 1992 by the founders of Beach Soccer Worldwide, a company set up to develop the sport and responsible for the majority of its tournaments to this day. This was a major foundation for what is now known as beach soccer and what has led to the sport growing in popularity; the irregularity of the soft-sand playing surface leads to a different style of play than is used in football, with a greater degree of improvisation. The compact field, much smaller than a normal football field, allows players to score from anywhere on the sand, leading to an average of sixty attempts at goal in a single game. With an average scoring rate of one goal every three or four minutes, around eleven goals are scored in total during an average game.
Beach football started in Brazil, more at Rio de Janeiro. In 1950 the first official tournament was created to unite neighborhood small tourneys that happened since 1940. After huge popularity it has grown to be an international game; the participation of internationally renowned players such as flamboyant Frenchman Eric Cantona, legendary Spanish strikers Michel and Julio Salinas and Brazilian stars such as Romário, Júnior and Zico has helped to expand television coverage to large audiences in over 170 countries worldwide. Beach soccer had been played recreationally all over the world for many years and in many different formats. In 1992 the laws of the game were envisioned and a pilot event was staged by the founding partners of BSWW in Los Angeles. By 1993, the first professional beach soccer competition was organized at Miami Beach, with teams from the United States, Brazil and Italy taking part. In April 1994 the first event to be covered by network television transmissions was held on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, the city hosted the first Beach Soccer World Championship in 1995.
The competition was won by the host nation, making Brazil the first-ever World Champions of Beach Soccer. The success of the tournament saw commercial interest begin to match developments on the field, growing demand for the sport around the world gave rise to the Pro Beach Soccer Tour in 1996; the first Pro Beach Soccer Tour included a total of 60 games in two years across South America, Europe and the United States, attracting major names both on and off the field. Interest generated by the tour in Europe led to the creation of the European Pro Beach Soccer League in 1998, providing a solid infrastructure that would increase the professionalism of the spectacle on all levels; the EPBSL, now known as the Euro BS League, brought promoters together from across the continent and satisfied the demands of the media and fans. Only four years on from its creation, the successful first step in the building of a legitimate worldwide competition structure for the sport of pro beach soccer had been taken.
Behind the scenes key developments were taking place, with the Beach Soccer Company relocating its headquarters to Europe, firstly to Monaco and Barcelona, before becoming Pro Beach Soccer, S. L. in April 2000. One year they would join forces with Octagon Koch Tavares, who had continued to organise the World Championships and events in South America, to form a single entity known as Beach Soccer Worldwide, with the aim of unifying all major Pro Beach Soccer tournaments in the world under the same structure and providing representation of the sport to major sponsors, the media and FIFA; the EPBSL was flourishing, a nail-biting 2000 season was decided in the closing match of the final tournament when Spain beat Portugal in an intense encounter. The Americas League took shape, with teams entered from North and South America, whilst the Pro Beach Soccer Tour extended its horizons to the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Japan and the United Kingdom. FIFA became the global governing body of the sport in 2005, acknowledging BSWW's framework and organizing the first FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
The next four years would see this growth consolidated by further progress both on and off the field, with the EPBSL emerging as the strongest pro beach soccer competition in the world. By 2004, some seventeen nations had entered teams, with this number expected to rise to over stage events; such interest has allowed BSWW to strike major sponsorship deals with international companies including McDonald's, Coca-Cola and MasterCard, who stepped up their involvement in 2004 and are now title sponsors of the Euro BS League. Recognition has come from FIFA, who have cited BSWW as the major entity behind the creation and growth of Beach Soccer, forming a promising partnership, in its full splendour seen in the 2005 world cup, held in Copacabana Beach, Brazil. France won the next year Brazil won it at the same venue; the World Cup has continued to flourish with the first held outside Brazil in 2008, future World Cups spreading as far out as Tahiti in 2013 and Portugal in 2015As of 2017, FIFA and the continental confederations do not host women's beach soccer tournaments.
The Asian Beach Games, European Games and South American Beach Games do not have women's beach soccer tournaments. The rules of beach soccer are based on the Laws of the Game of association football, with several modifications. A beach soccer field is a level sandy area smaller than a regular football field; the field is cleared of pebbles and seashells, along wi
Special Olympics
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to 5 million athletes and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Olympics competitions are held every day, all around the world—including local and regional competitions, adding up to more than 100,000 events a year. Like the International Paralympic Committee, the Special Olympics organization is recognized by the International Olympic Committee; the Special Olympics World Games is a major event put on by the Special Olympics. The World Games alternate between summer and winter games, in two-year cycles, recurring every fourth year; the first games were held on July 20, 1968 in Chicago, with about 1000 athletes from the U. S. and Canada. International participation expanded in subsequent games. In 2003, the first summer games held outside the United States were in Dublin, Ireland with 7000 athletes from 150 countries.
The most recent World Summer Games were held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from March 14 to 21 2019. This was the first Special Olympics; the next World Summer Games will be held in Berlin, Germany in 2023. This will be the first time that Germany has hosted the Special Olympics World Games; the first World Winter Games were held in 1977 in Colorado. Austria hosted the first Winter Games outside the United States in 1993; the most recent Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in Graz and Ramsau, Austria from March 14, 2017 to March 25, 2017. During the World Winter Games of 2013 in Pyeongchang, South Korea the first Special Olympics Global Development Summit was held on "Ending the Cycle of Poverty and Exclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities," gathering government officials and business leaders from around the world; the next World Winter Games will be held in Åre and Östersund, Sweden between February 2 to 13 2021. This will be the first time that Sweden has hosted the Special Olympics.
In June 1962, Eunice Kennedy Shriver started a day camp called Camp Shriver for children with intellectual and physical disabilities at her home in Potomac, Maryland. The camp sought to address the concern that children with disabilities had little opportunity to participate in organised athletic events. With Camp Shriver as an example, Kennedy Shriver, head of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation and a member of President John F. Kennedy's Panel on Mental Retardation, promoted the concept of involvement in physical activity and other opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. Camp Shriver became an annual event, the Kennedy Foundation gave grants to universities, recreation departments, community centers to hold similar camps. In the early 1960s, Kennedy Shriver wrote an article in the Saturday Evening Post, revealing that her sister Rosemary President John F. Kennedy's sister, was born with intellectual disabilities; this frank article about the President's family was seen as a "watershed" in changing public attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities.
Rosemary's disability provided Kennedy Shriver with an overall vision that people with intellectual disabilities could compete and at the same time unify in public. It has been said that Rosemary's disability was Eunice's inspiration to form Special Olympics, but she told The New York Times in 1995 that, not the case. "The games should not focus on one individual," she said. In 1958, Dr. James N. Oliver of England had conducted pioneering research, including a ground-breaking study showing that physical exercise and activities for children with intellectual disabilities had positive effects that carried over into the classroom. Dr. Oliver in 1964 served as a consultant to Camp Shriver; the 1964 research of Dr. Frank Hayden, a Canadian physical education professor from London, demonstrated that persons with intellectual disabilities can and should participate in physical exercise, he believed. With the help of a local school that offered space in its gym, Hayden started one of the first public organised sports programs, floor hockey for individuals with intellectual disabilities, in the fall of 1968.
In the mid-1960s, Hayden developed an idea for national games, his work brought him to the attention of the Kennedy Foundation. He shared his ideas for national games, while taking a teaching sabbatical and working for the foundation; the first Special Olympics games were held in July 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago. About 1,000 athletes from the U. S. and Canada took part in the one-day event, a joint venture by the Kennedy Foundation and the Chicago Park District. Anne McGlone Burke a physical education teacher with the Chicago Park District, began with the idea for a one-time, city-wide, Olympic-style athletic competition for people with special needs. Burke approached the Kennedy Foundation in 1967 to fund the event. Kennedy Shriver, in turn, encouraged her to expand the idea beyond the city and the foundation provided a grant of $25,000; when Burke had approached another charity for funding, she was told, "You should be ashamed of yourself pu
