Though the first ever International Special Olympics Games were held in 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, drawing 1,000 athletes from 26 states and Canada, the International Winter Special Olympics Games did not begin until 1977. However, with the leadership and support the Special Olympics movement gave to the notion of an International Winter Special Olympics Games, it wasn’t long before the thought grew into a reality.

  • 5-11 February 1977 - The First International Special Olympics Winter Games are held in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, with more than 500 athletes competing in skiing and skating events. CBS, ABC and NBC television networks cover the Games.
  • 8-13 March 1981 - The Second International Special Olympics Winter Games are held at the Village of Smugglers’ Notch and Stowe, Vermont, with more than 600 Alpine and cross-country skiers and ice skaters participating.
  • 24-29 March 1985 - Athletes from 14 countries are represented in skiing and skating events at the Third International Special Olympics Winter Games in Park City, Utah.
  • 1-8 April 1989 - The Fourth International Special Olympics Winter Games are held in Reno, Nevada, and Lake Tahoe, California. More than 1,000 athletes from 18 countries participate.
  • 20-27 March 1993 - The Fifth Special Olympics World Winter Games are held in Salzburg and Schladming, Austria, with 1,600 athletes from more than 50 countries participating in five winter sports. These are the first World Winter Games held outside North America.
  • 1-8 February 1997 - Nearly 2,000 athletes from 73 countries compete in five Olympic-type winter sports in Toronto/Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, for the Sixth Special Olympics World Winter Games. This event is the world’s largest winter multisport event in 1997.
  • 4-11 March 2001 - More than 1,800 athletes representing approximately 70 countries compete in seven Olympic-type winter sports at the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Anchorage, Alaska. The Games are the largest sporting event ever held in the history of Alaska.
  • 26 February - 5 March 2005 - The 2005 Special Olympics World Winter Games, held in Nagano, Japan, were the first World Games held in Asia. The Games drew more than 1,800 athletes from 84 countries, and thousands of families, volunteers, spectators and journalists from around the world as Nagano became the first city in the world to host the Olympics, Paralympics and Special Olympics World Games.
  • 7-13 February 2009 - The 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games will be held in Idaho, USA involving up to 3,000 athletes from more than 100 countries for the largest multi-day winter sporting event in Idaho history.