Russia will for the first time host the Special Olympics World Winter Games in 2022. It is one of the world’s most prestigious sports events, focused on advancing a truly inclusive environment for people with intellectual disabilities. More than 2,000 athletes and Unified partners (athletes without intellectual disabilities) from 180 countries are expected to participate. They will be joined by 3,000 volunteers and 4,000 dignitaries and family members.

Kazan was elected the host city by the Special Olympics International Board of Directors. This city with a thousand-year history has already hosted such global-scale sports events as the 27th Summer Universiade, 2015 FINA World Championships, 2018 FIFA World Cup and a number of events for people with disabilities.

The capital of the Republic of Tatarstan is well-equipped to host the seven sports of World Winter Games — alpine skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, floorball, cross-country skiing, figure skating, and short track speedskating.

Each year the Special Olympics Movement delivers more than 30 Olympic-type sports, over 100,000 games and competitions. It involves six million athletes, more than one million coaches and volunteers. Special Olympics World Games take place since 1968 every two years, alternating between summer and winter sports.  ESPN is the official broadcast partner of Special Olympics. The previous World Winter Games took place in Austria in 2017.

Special Olympics program was established in Russia in 1999 and involves about 130,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities. More than 5 thousand sports events at the municipal, regional and national levels are held for them annually across Russia. Currently there are 62 Movement’s offices in Russian regions. Russian athletes with intellectual disabilities regularly take part and show impressive results in global Special Olympics competitions.

Additional information about Special Olympics World Winter Games Kazan 2022 is available on the web-sites www.specialopympics.org, sokazan2022.com.