Four athletes with intellectual disabilities from Draktsho Vocational Training Centre for Youth and Children will participate in the Special Olympics to be held in Germany  from June 17 to 25.  Team Bhutan comprising four athletes, and three officials landed in Germany yesterday. The Special Olympics is  the world’s  largest sports organisation that provides a year-round sports and fitness training programme to persons with intellectual disabilities globally to 172 countries. 

This will be Bhutan’s fourth appearance. Bhutan first participated in the Special Olympics in Greece where athletes won  gold. This event occurs every four years and it’s the largest Olympic event for persons with intellectual disabilities.  Bhutan also won medals at the Los Angeles  Games in 2015, and 2019 in the United Arab Emirates. 

This year, Germany will host 7,000 athletes from around 170 countries in 24 sports. More than 3,000 coaches and 20,000 volunteers will  also be present at the event.