The 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games is a sporting event held from June, 25th 2011 - July, 4th 2011 in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. The opening ceremony of the games took place on 25 June 2011 at the Panathinaiko Stadium

Panathinaiko Stadium

The Panathinaiko or Panathenaic Stadium , also known as the Kallimarmaro , is an athletic stadium in Athens that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896...

 and the closing ceremony was held on 4 July 2011.

"Over 7,500" athletes, from 185 countries, will be competing in a total of twenty-two sports.

Sports

• Aquatics
• Athletics
• Badminton
  Badminton
  Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
  
  
• Basketball
  Basketball
  Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
  
  
• Bocce
  Bocce
  Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...
  
  
• Bowling
  Bowling
  Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
  
  
• Cycling
  Cycling
  Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
  
  
• Equestrian
  Equestrianism
  Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
  
  
• Floor Hockey
  Hockey
  Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
  
  
• Football (Soccer)
  Football (soccer)
  Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
  
  
• Golf
  Golf
  Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
  
  
• Gymnastics
  Gymnastics
  Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
  
  
• Judo
  Judo
  is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
  
  
• Powerlifting
  Powerlifting
  Powerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...
  
  
• Roller Skating
  Roller skating
  Roller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...
  
  
• Sailing
  Sailing
  Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
  
  
• Softball
  Softball
  Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
  
  
• Table Tennis
  Table tennis
  Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
  
  
• Team Handball
  Team handball
  Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
  
  
• Tennis
  Tennis
  Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
  
  
• Volleyball
  Volleyball
  Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
  
  

Possible inclusion

• Canoeing
  Canoeing
  Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
  
  

Nations

Bangladesh will be represented by 40 athletes.

Egypt

Egypt at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games

Egypt participated in the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Athens, Greece from 25 June to 4 July with 77 athletes competing in 1 sports winning 41 medals, 13 Gold, 16 Silver and 12 Bronze medals.- Medalists :-Competitors:...

 was represented by 77 athletes competing in 11 sports. They won 41 medals (13 Gold, 16 Silver and 12 Bronze).

India will be represented by 256 athletes.

Lithuania will be represented by 17 athletes.

New Zealand will be represenyed by 35 athletes competing in seven sports: athletics (2 golds won in shotput and relay), aquatics, basketball, bowling, equestrian, golf and powerlifting.

Pakistan was represented by 90 athletes, winning 56 Medals, (17 Gold, 25 Silver and 14 Bronze). Adeel Ameer (most successful athlete in the squad) captured 3 Gold Medals, winning 100-metre, high-jump and 4×100 metre events.

The Philippines

Philippines at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games

Philippines participated in the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Athens, Greece from 25 June to 4 July with 8 athletes competing in 2 sports:Boccee,Athletics....

 will be represented by 38 athletes competing in six sports: athletics, aquatics, badminton, bowling, gymnastics and powerlifting.

Samoa will be represented by 8 athletes.

The United Kingdom will be represented by 151 athletes.

The Vietnam

Vietnam at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games

Vietnam participated in the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Athens, Greece from 25 June to 4 July with 8 athletes competing in 2 sports:Boccee,Athletics.- Medalists :- Competitors :...

will be represented by 8 athletes competing in two sports: athletics, Bocce .

A total of 146 athletes represented Ireland in the Special Olympics 2011 World Summer Games. They returned to Ireland with a total of 106 medals.

External links

• Special Olympics
• 2011 World Summer Games - official site