fact sheet

To provide year–round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic–type sports for children and adults with an intellectual disability, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

Founded in 1987 as Special Olympics India and changed to Special Olympics Bharat in 2001 with 37,546 registered athletes.

610885 registered athletes and participants [per the Census Results 2008]
35866 coaches
640 competitions

An estimated 32,000,000 individuals with Intellectual Disabilities in India. Estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be 1-3% of the population.

The target is to reach 1000,000 athletes by end of 2012.

There are 11 Board of Directors under the strong leadership of:
• Air Marshal Denzil Keelor [Retd.] – Chairman
• Mr. V Iyer
• Mr. J.P. Nadda
• Mrs. Usha Ram
• Mrs. S Sukrutaraj
• Mr. Arun Kapur
• Mr. Charles Borromeo
• Mr. Victor Vaz
• Air Marshal A Goel
• Air Marshal SK Malik
• Ms. Pranavi Sethi

Special Olympics International is providing funding however Special Olympics Bharat has received prestigious nationwide recognition from the Sports Authority of India enabling them to access government funds to ensure their presence at national and international competition.

- In 2006, Special Olympics Bharat was recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India, as an official sports federation for intellectually disabled and also granted priority classification.

- Typically their National Games and Torch Runs span multiple cities and states securing media and supporters. In 2005, the Program hosted a 14 city Torch Run; National Games in 9 locations for 12 sports.

- The Program hosted two major cricket events since 2004, Amhedabad, Gujarat (2004); Mumbai (2006). Both events had hundreds of athletes from multiple countries with thousands of spectators and supporters

- Winter Games such as Alpine Skiing, Snowshoeing and snowboarding were introduced in 2007.