The Games attracted 2,500 athletes from around the world. Delegations of Special Olympics athletes came from 80 nations. Special Olympics offers year-round sports training and athletic competition for older children and adults with mental retardation.
Participants develop physical fitness, self-confidence and friendships.
The Winter Games events were alpine skiing, figure skating, floor hockey, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and speed skating. Athlete prepares for dog-sled ride. He and Peter Mjos, UW clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the Alaska Native Medical Center family practice clerkship site, were among the physicians on the medical support teams. They helped treat inherent medical conditions such as seizure disorders and asthma, as well as sports injuries. Nighswander found that many people with mental retardation have difficulty getting adequate medical and dental care, even in the United States.