GRIFFITH PARK—On Thursday, July 30, two athletes that were taking part in the Special Olympics were reported missing.
The Los Angeles Police Department reported that two Russian delegates were last seen at a golf course around 4 p.m.
While doing a headcount before departing on a bus it was noticed that two people were missing, both a man and a woman in their 30s.
They were located around 5 p.m., but the exact location of their discovery has not been made public. There is also no information regarding the identity of these two athletes.
According to reports, the two athletes ended up on a different bus.
The Special Olympics is an event that was founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who was also a athlete and noticed that those with intellectual and physical disabilities were excluded from sports; she felt like this was an injustice.
Shriver felt a very personal affront to this exclusion because she had a sister, Rosemary, who had an intellectual disability. Eunice and Rosemary Shriver played all kinds of sports together and it was then that Eunice realized that those with disabilities were not as limiting as people believed.
In 1962, Eunice Shriver set up a place and invited all types of people with different kinds of disabilities to this place; she named in “Camp Shriver”. At this camp, sports games were set up and everyone competed together; having a disability was not an issue at this camp.
In 1968, inspired by “Camp Shriver” and growing from it, the first International Special Olympics Game was hosted in Chicago, Illinois. It has been a tradition ever since.
The Special Olympics is meant to allow those with all kinds of disabilities to play, work, train, and compete just like the rest of the athletes that compete in the Olympics.
