Irish Sports Council Announces Funding Support for 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games

Special Olympics Ireland will be represented by a team of 126 athletes and 49 coaches at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece in June. The Irish Sports Council will support their participation with an additional grant of €265,000, representing 75% of the total estimated cost of attendance.

The 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games will take place in Athens from 25th June to 4th July 2011. Hosted successfully by Ireland in 2003 it is the major event in the calendar. The competition is run on a 4 year cycle with athletes progressing from Area to Regional to Special Olympics Ireland Games and finally to World Games, whereupon the cycle commences again.

Currently Special Olympics Ireland has 10,690 people with an intellectual disability registered as participants in their programmes. From this community of athletes, 126 athletes have qualified to represent Ireland in Athens in the following sports; Aquatics (11), Athletics (12), Badminton (4), Bocce (6), Bowling (8), Basketball (20), Equestrian (5), Football 5 a side (20) and Football 11 a side (16), Golf (6), Gymnastics (8), Kayaking (4) and Table Tennis (6). There will be a total of 49 coaches and official delegates accompanying the athletes bringing the total delegation size to 175.

Special Olympics Ireland takes a holistic approach to the preparation of their teams for Special Olympics World Summer Games, Team preparation will include: Sports Specific Training, Nutrition and Hydration, Injury Prevention, Sports Science Support and Code of Ethics Training. Other relevant support personnel including physiologists, nutritionists and physiotherapists will work with the team in order to provide the best possible preparation and support.

Kieran Mulvey, Chairman of the Irish Sports Council commented:" The Council is delighted to support the Irish Team at the Special Olympics World Games this summer. It is hugely important that the Irish team is given the opportunity to prepare and compete to the best of their ability and to know that they will represent Ireland with the full support of Irish sport and the whole community".

Matt English, CEO Special Olympics Ireland: "On behalf of Team Ireland, I want to thank the Irish Sports Council for this support which will ensure that Ireland is proudly represented by athletes and support staff at the most important event in the Special Olympics calendar."