cultural olympiad » 2009 Special Olympics

The 8th Special Olympics GB National Summer Games kicked off in Leicester on Open Weekend 2009, bringing the city alive for a two-week festival of disability sports and arts. The Igniting Ambition Festival played host to 6 exhibitions, 3 nationally recognised festivals and over 50 cultural events, attracting over a quarter of a million participants. Highlights included:

• The Opening Ceremony, attended by more than 25,000 people and marked by the presence of Gordon and Sarah Brown
• Foot in Hand’s performance of specially commissioned integrated dance pieces, One Night Only and State of Becoming 
• Lyric Lounge – seven days and nights of performance poetry and spoken word commissioned by Renaissance East Midlands

The Special Olympics was the biggest multi-sports team event to be held in the UK before 2012, with over 2700 athletes representing 19 Special Olympics regions across the UK, along with 1200 coaches and 1500 volunteers.