It's time for thrill-paked action. The 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games opened last Saturday in Athens and runs to July 4, with the participation of 7,500 athletes representing 185 countries competing in 22 Olympic-type sports. Egypt is participating in this year Athens Games, the fifth Summer Games for Egypt since its inception in 1994, with a 77-member delegation, including 54 athletes, 21 coaches and the chairman and deputy chairman of the delegation. Egypt's Special Olympics was established in 1995, and the most Egyptian Council for the Special Olympics was elected this year, chaired by Gamal Madi Abul Azaem. Chairman of the Egyptian delegation Abdel-Wahab Mahmoud has long been involved with Special Olympics. He presided over Egypt's delegation to the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Connecticut in the US in 1995 and then in North Carolina in the US in 1997. He has also been Secretary of the Regional Advisory Board of the Special Olympics since its inception. Dr Bassem Mohamed Tohamy, the deputy chairman of the Egyptian delegation, has participated in all the regional and international special games since 2002. Egyptian athletes are competing in 11 different sports in Athens. They are swimming team, athletes, the badminton team, the basketball team for girls, the bocce team, the bowling team, the equestrian team, the sevens football team, the weightlifting team, the table tennis team and the tennis team Ayman Abdel-Wahab is the Special Olympics Middle East and North Africa (MENA) managing director. The Middle East and North Africa region is participating in this year's Games with 924 players in 15 different sports, although Yemen is absent this year, because of the current unrest there. This Special Olympics is the most significant athletic event hosted in Greece since the 2004 Olympic Games. Egypt and the Special Olympics Games: • Participated with 26 athletes in the 1995 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Connecticut in the US. • Participated with 36 athletes in the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games in North Carolina in the US. • Participated with 72 athletes in the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland. • Participated at 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, China. The World Games is the largest sporting event, held every four years. The first global summer Games was held in July 1968 with the participation of more than 1,000 athletes with mental disabilities from 26 states in the US and Canada. Athletes competed in three sporting events: swimming, athletics and hockey. Since then, the event has grown ever bigger.
