LOS ANGELES: Thousands of athletes said goodbye to Los Angeles on Sunday in an emotional closing ceremony for the Special Olympics marked by cheers, tears and pride.

After more than a week of games, athletes from more than 160 countries gathered in chairs on the field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to receive applause and praise for their efforts.

Placards from their national delegations were brought in along a giant red carpet. Some 6,500 athletes took part in contests ranging from weightlifting to football.

Although not everyone won gold, silver or bronze medals, every competitor received a performance ribbon and a chance to take to the victory stand following their competition.

An estimated 500,000 people turned out to watch at venues in and around Los Angeles.

“These Games have been life-changing and we hope that this will only be a spark that will light the world on fire with the enthusiasm, courage and acceptance and inclusion for all people with intellectual disabilities,” said Patrick McClenahan, president and chief executive of the games’ organising committee.

The colourful Special Olympics flag was lowered and presented to a delegation from Austria, where the Winter Games will be held in 2017.

A five-minute video showed highlights of the competitions and a flame that was lit in the Coliseum cauldron at the game opening was extinguished.

The athletes were welcomed on July 25 in a star-studded ceremony at the arena, site of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics.

Away from the competitions, thousands of athletes lined up at a medical centre at the University of Southern California for the games’ Healthy Athletes program.

Before it ended on Saturday, more than 500 people, including some who could not hear at all, received needed hearing aids. More than 600 received new prescription glasses and more than 4,000 got new shoes.

The Special Olympics, which began in 1968, was the brainchild of President John Kennedy’s sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

That first year’s games in Chicago drew about 1,000 athletes from 26 states and Canada. Organisers say this year’s Special Olympics will be the largest sports and humanitarian event in the world in 2015.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2015

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