More than 100 sports experts gather in Cyprus for the Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Sports Conference 2025

The Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Sports Conference is a biennial meeting of Special Olympics sports directors, advisors, partners and experts with the aim of promoting sports development for people with intellectual disabilities in Europe and Eurasia. This year, more than 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 generate and sustain interest in Special Olympics’ mission to achieve inclusion and advance our sports offering.

The Sports Conference was supported by the European Union (EU) as a means of ensuring that the legacy of the Special Olympics World Games Turin 2025 lives on in our region. This generous funding, along with the hospitality of Special Olympic Games Cyprusmade the conference possible.

David Evangelista, President and CEO of Special Olympics Europe Eurasia was keen to underline the importance of EU support. He said: “The Turin Games provided an opportunity for us at the Special Olympics Europe Eurasia to showcase 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 productive event. Our Regional Sports Conference is one of the many legacies of that grant: the European Union has given us the opportunity to celebrate Turin, but also to create this long legacy of sport, of dignity and of inclusion for all.”

Discussions at the conference focused on analyzing and evaluating the sporting and coaching standards between the ‘Between the Games’ during previous editions of the conference. 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 spirit of inclusivity throughout. From Special Olympics Cyprus, Christos Kasoulides will perform during the opening session and Special Olympics Great Britain Kiera Byland moderates panel discussions, to Special Olympic Games Iceland Magnús Orri Arnarson documents the sessions on video; athletes were involved in a range of different aspects of the conference.

“Everyone’s voice matters within the Special Olympics,” says Mark Bolger, Special Olympics Ireland athlete. “Over the past five years I have had the opportunity to be the voice of the athletes of the Europe Eurasia Sports Committee, providing input into the competitions and programs they offer.”

Both the regional sports and leadership committees held new elections in Larnaca, Cyprus. The Sports Committee welcomed new members of Great Britain, Bosnia and Herzegovina And Maltaand the Leadership Committee welcomed new members of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Special Olympic Games Malta athlete Rachel Chircop was appointed as the new athlete representative on the sports committee Special Olympic Games Estonia athlete Inge Maiberg will continue her role in the Leadership Committee.

The Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Sports Conference was also an opportunity for partners to renew their commitment to inclusivity and explore new ideas on how to put it into practice. The second day of the conference provided the opportunity for Special Olympics Europe Eurasia sports directors to exchange valuable ideas with key sports federation partners: Antonio Silva, President of European Aquatics; Nicolas Messner, Director of Media and Judo for Peace at the International Judo Federation (IJF); and Nicolas Rossides, National Director of the Cyprus Golf Federation.

Nicolas Messner, Director of Media and Judo for Peace at the IJF said: “It is very important that the International Judo Federation (IJF) is present at such events, because we believe that sport is not just about medals, but about everything we can do to use sport as a tool for social development, to bring people together.

We are going to 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 collaboration,” said Antonio Silva, president of European Aquatics.

“We signed an agreement with Special Olympics on 4 July in Šamorin, Slovakia, and after that we immediately defined together a series of activities in line with our activities Memorandum of understanding. For us, this is a very important moment: we can reflect on what we have done so far and use this opportunity to prepare common activities for the next season.”

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 scheduled 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.

_{Financed by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Executive Agency for Education and Culture (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA can be held responsible for this.}