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Q.The Special Olympics movement was founded in 1968 by:

(a) Eunice Kennedy Shriver
(b) Dr. Ludwig Guttmann
(c) Pierre de Coubertin
(d) Juan Antonio Samaranch
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(a) Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

She founded the Special Olympics, whose first International Games were held in Chicago in 1968, giving children and adults with intellectual disabilities year-round sports training and competition. Guttmann founded the Paralympics; de Coubertin revived the Olympics; Samaranch merely presided over the IOC.

How the movement began

Eunice Kennedy Shriver started with something very small: a day camp run at her own home for children with intellectual disabilities. At the time such children were routinely excluded from sport, from schools and from public life on the assumption that they could not benefit from any of it. The camp was intended to test exactly that assumption — and it showed that these children could learn skills, train, compete and enjoy sport like anyone else.

That work grew into the Special Olympics, whose first International Games took place in Chicago in 1968. The movement has since spread worldwide, with Special Olympics Bharat as the accredited Indian programme.

What the Special Olympics stands for

  • Population served — children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
  • Year-round training, not just a competition once every four years. The regular training is as much the point as the medals.
  • Divisioning by ability — athletes are grouped by age, sex and ability so that everyone in a heat is of a similar standard. Every athlete therefore has a real chance of winning their division, and effort is rewarded rather than raw talent alone.
  • Unified Sports — teams that mix athletes with and without intellectual disabilities, so inclusion is built into the playing field itself.
  • The outcome — improved motor skills and fitness, but also self-confidence, self-esteem, social skills and a public setting in which these athletes are seen for what they can do.

Keeping the four names straight

Important

PersonWhat they actually founded / did
Eunice Kennedy ShriverSpecial Olympics — first International Games, Chicago, 1968; for intellectual disabilities ✓
Dr. Ludwig GuttmannThe Paralympic movement — the Stoke Mandeville Games, 1948, for athletes with spinal injuries / physical impairments
Pierre de CoubertinRevived the modern Olympic Games (Athens, 1896) and founded the International Olympic Committee
Juan Antonio SamaranchA President of the IOC — an administrator of the existing Olympic movement, not the founder of a movement

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