NEP Presents Fourth of July Special Olympics 2018

This Fourth of July was a very special Fourth of July, because not only was it Independence day but The Special Olympics were celebrating their 50th year by hosting the games from July 1st to July 6th with athletes from all 50 states in Seattle. According to an article by Seattle Magazine, this year’s 50th Anniversary Celebration of The Special Olympics was the biggest sporting event Seattle has hosted since The 1990 Goodwill Games.

The game’s opening ceremony took place at The University of Washington’s own Husky Stadium on July 1st at 12:30 pm and over 70,000 spectators were in attendance throughout the games and ceremony. The games were hosted at 8 different locations throughout the city including the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University.

Washington had the largest team with 254 athletes out of the 3,500 athletes coming to compete from around the country. The Special Olympics have grown tremendously since it’s the first year at the Chicago 1968 Special Olympics where there were 1,000 total athletes.

The Seattle Special Olympic games were comprised of 14 different team and individual sporting events with athletes ranging from as young as 9 to 74 years old competing.