2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games
Host city | Graz and Schladming, Austria |
---|---|
Motto | Heartbeat For The World (German: Herzschlag für die Welt) |
Nations participating | 113 |
Athletes participating | 2,277 (1,555 Male & 722 Female) |
Events | 27 events (9 sports) |
Opening ceremony | March 18 |
Closing ceremony | March 26 |
Officially opened by | Alexander Van der Bellen |
The 2017 Special Olympic World Winter Games officially called 11th Special Olympics World Winter Games is a Special Olympics, a multi-sports event that was held in Austria from March 14 through March 25, 2017.[1]
Overview
It was announced on October 12, 2012 that the host city would be Graz and Schladming in Styria, Austria will be the host site for the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games.[2]
The opening and closing ceremonies will be broadcast in the United States on ABC and ESPN. And most events will be played live or re-aired on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNNEWS throughout the games.[3]
The games
Reception
With 113 nations participating all were invited to the Reception in Vienna after the teams arrived. At the Reception teams and nations could meet other athletes, take photos and talk to media from all over the world. This first Special Olympics World Games had ever done. The Reception took place on March 16, 2017 at the city hall of Vienna Rathaus, Vienna.
Arrivals
Most athletes arrived at Vienna International Airport on March 14, 2017. All delegations were greeted and all arrivals were given Special Austria 2017 necklaces and gear for their stay.
However when teams were arriving teams from Ghana and Afghanistan were denied visas to travel to Austria to compete. Special Olympics International released the following statement on the situation "We are deeply saddened that the delegations from Special Olympics Afghanistan and Special Olympics Ghana were not able to obtain visas to travel to participate and compete [in the] Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria," Earlier in the week, the team from Ghana received word that their entry visas had been denied by the Netherlands Embassy, which represents the Austrian government in Ghana, on the grounds that the athletes would not return to Ghana after the competition. So the teams could not participate in the game. Tim Shriver, chairman of the board of Special Olympics International (SOI) said "For us, it might be a number. On paper, six athletes of more than 2,500 did not attend the 2017 World Games. But for those six, it is a nightmare."[4]
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony was on March 18, 2017. Where the games were officially opened by Alexander Van der Bellen. Jason Mraz and Grace VanderWaal with a choir of local children from Schladming and Special Olympics global messengers to performed "I Won't Give Up." As well as the performance of Mraz and VanderWaal Helene Fischer performed "Fighter".[5]
Nations participating
* Host nation
Events
The following events are taking place at Austria 2017:[7]
- Alpine skiing ()
- Cross-country skiing ()
- Floorball ()
- Floor hockey ()
- Figure skating ()
- Snowboarding ()
- Speed skating ()
- Snowshoeing ()
- Stick Shooting ()
Calendar
OC | Opening ceremony | ● | Event competitions | 1 | Gold medals | EG | Exhibition gala | CC | Closing ceremony |
March | 18 Sat |
19 Sun |
20 Mon |
21 Tue |
22 Wed |
23 Thu |
24 Fri |
25 Sat |
Gold medals |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ceremonies | OC | CC | |||||||
Alpine skiing | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||
Cross-Country Skiing | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||
Figure skating | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||||
Floor ball | ● | ● | |||||||
Floor hockey | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | |||
Short Track Speed Skating | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | |||
Snowboarding | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | |||
Snowshoeing | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||
March | 18 Sat |
19 Sun |
20 Mon |
21 Tue |
22 Wed |
23 Thu |
24 Fr |
25 Sat |
Gold medals |
Broadcasting
The 2017 World Games will be broadcasting on the following broadcasters in the following country:[8]
- Austria – ORF
- Brazil – ESPN Brasil
- Canada – TSN2, Sportsnet
- New Zealand – Sky Television
- United Kingdom – BBC
- United States – ESPN, ESPN2, ABC
- India – ESPN
References
- ↑ "World Games Overview". Special Olympics. 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
- ↑ "Special Olympics World Games came to a close Sunday with the traditional extinguishing of....". LATimes. 2 August 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
- ↑ "Special Olympics World Games TV schedule". ESPN.com. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
- ↑ "Ghana, Afghanistan denied visas to enter Austria for 2017 Games". ESPN.com. 19 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
- ↑ "Helene Fischer stellte bei den Special Olympics in Schladming ihren neuen Song „Fighter“ vor". schlagerplametnet.com. 19 March 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
- ↑ "Austria 2017 World Games". Austria2017. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
- ↑ Sports & Games. Special Olympics official website. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
- ↑ "2017 World Winter Games Coverage". specialolympics.org. 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games. |
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Preceded by Pyeongchang, South Korea |
Special Olympics World Winter Games | Succeeded by TBA |