Special Olympics European Sports Conference 2025 – “Between the Games”
The Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Sports Conference is a biannual gathering of Special Olympics Sports Directors, advisors, partners and experts with the purpose of furthering sports development for people with intellectual disabilities in Europe and Eurasia. This year, over 100 participants from 40 countries took part in the event in Larnaca, Cyprus.
The 2025 edition, titled “Between the Games”, focused on the importance of leveraging key international events such as the Special Olympics World Games to capture and retain interest in Special Olympics’ mission of inclusion and advance our sports offering.
The Sports Conference was supported by the European Union (EU) as means of ensuring that the legacy of the Special Olympics World Games Turin 2025 lives on across our region. This generous funding, together with the hospitality of Special Olympics Cyprus, made the Conference possible.
David Evangelista, President and Managing Director of Special Olympics Europe Eurasia was keen to underline the significance of EU support. He said, “The Games in Turin offered us at Special Olympics Europe Eurasia a chance to bring forth our very strong, now decades-long partnership with the European Union. We were so grateful to welcome them to Turin and to receive their support for such a prolific event. Our Regional Sports Conference is one of many legacy items from that grant: the European Union has given us a chance to celebrate Turin, but also create this long legacy of Sport, of dignity and of inclusion for all.”
Discussions at the conference focused on analysing and evaluating “Between the Games” sports and coaching standards at past editions of the World Games with the aim of making improvements for upcoming editions: the Special Olympics World Games Santiago de Chile 2027 and the Special Olympics World Winter Games Switzerland 2029.
The conference embodied the spirt of inclusion throughout. From Special Olympics Cyprus Christos Kasoulides performing at the Opening session and Special Olympics Great Britain Kiera Byland moderating panel discussions, to Special Olympics Iceland Magnús Orri Arnarson documenting the sessions on video; athletes were involved in an array of different aspects of the Conference.
“Within Special Olympics, everyone’s voice matters,” says Mark Bolger, Special Olympics Ireland athlete. “I have had the opportunity to be the voice of the athletes of the Europe Eurasia Sports Committee for the past five years, where I gave input for the competitions and programmes they offer.”
Both the regional Sports and Leadership Committees held new elections in Larnaca, Cyprus. The Sports Committee welcomed new members from Great Britain, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Malta, and the Leadership Committee welcomed new members from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Special Olympics Malta athlete Rachel Chircop was appointed as the new Athlete Representative on the Sports Committee, while Special Olympics Estonia athlete Inge Maiberg will continue in her role on the Leadership Committee.
The Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Sports Conference was also an opportunity for partners to renew their commitment to inclusion and explore new ideas on how to bring that into practice. The second day of the conference offered Special Olympics Europe Eurasia’s Sports Directors the opportunity to exchange valuable ideas with key partners from sports federations: Antonio Silva, President of European Aquatics; Nicolas Messner, Media and Judo for Peace Director at the International Judo Federation (IJF); and Nicolas Rossides, National Director of the Cyprus Golf Federation.
Nicolas Messner, Media and Judo for Peace Director at the IJF said, “It is very important for the International Judo Federation (IJF) to be present at such events, because we believe that sport is not only about medals, but about everything we can do to use sport as a social development tool, to bring people together.
We will develop more activities to bring people together on the tatami: without focusing on the differences, but rather to bring those differences together and make people’s lives better.”
“For us it is very important to have this cooperation,” noted Antonio Silva, President of European Aquatics.
“We signed an agreement with Special Olympics on 4 July in Šamorin, Slovakia, and then immediately we defined together a set of activities aligned with our Memorandum of Understanding. For us, this is a very significant moment: we can reflect on what we did so far and use this opportunity to prepare common activities for the next season.”
Indeed, one of the immediate results of the conference was the invitation of Special Olympics athletes from across Europe to three European Aquatics Open Water competitions set to take place in 2026. They will take place in Protaras, Cyprus in April, in Budapest, Hungary, in July and in Munich, Germany, in August.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
