Los Angeles – Liguria’s Special Olympics athletes, whose motto is “May I win, but if I cannot, may I try with all my might,” brought home silver and bronze medals from the World Championships in Los Angeles, dedicated to people, children and adults with intellectual disabilities. And on Monday, Nov. 2 they met the Regional Councilor for Sports, Ilaria Cavo. “I am honored to be able to reward these athletes, who demonstrate, through their words and actions, the importance of participating in these type of initiatives,” said Cavo. “I strongly believe that we are doing everything in our power to make sure that disability is recognized and supported in all sectors: starting from our school system, which received a support of €3.5 million to ensure that these pupils attend class; and from the activities that want to help these young people enter the workforce. The award ceremony today is one more step in this direction, and as a Region we wanted to give credit where credit is due, praising these athletes and the associations that supported them.” Unlike the Paralympic Committee, which operates with competitive races, the Special Olympics organizes training and events for all skill levels. It is estimated that worldwide there are nearly 4.5 million Special Olympics athletes, 4 million households and more than 1.3 million volunteers who work for the success of more than 80,000 major events around the world. (9Colonne)
