Round Table Discussion “Inclusive Sports: Driving Human and Social Development for A Changing Europe”

The Empress Theophano Prize, designed to highlight those persons or organisations in Europe and beyond who embody European and universal values, has this year been awarded to Special Olympics, an initiative showing the power of sport to overcome adversity and promote inclusion, founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver. The Empress Theophano Prize will be presented to Dr. Timothy Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics, at a Ceremony on 23 October in the 2000 year-old Rotunda of Thessaloniki, Greece.

This year’s Prize Winner, Special Olympics, is a global movement that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sports. With over 4,000,000 participating athletes spanning some 190 nations, the movement of Special Olympics is changing the lives of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) through a robust development through sport focus. The Special Olympics vision is to create a world where everyone is accepted, celebrated and welcomed, regardless of ability or disability.

In the context of this year’s Prize, the Theophano Round Table is planned to take place, a discussion under the title “Inclusive Sports: Driving Human and Social Development for A Changing Europe” that is designed to highlight the impact of the Special Olympics movement and the urgency of the theme of inclusion in an ever-changing European region. The event will take place on Thursday 24^th October 2024, at 18:00 at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, and includes a panel discussion of invited speakers that will contribute through their different perspectives to the topic, as well as the participation of Special Olympics athletes and their families to accentuate the core message of transformation through sport and the ways inclusion has strengthened families, communities, and nations alike. The engagement will be an opportunity to raise awareness and launch a renewed call-to-action on the broader purpose and the transformative power of the Special Olympics movement in contributing to a more unified European identity that is inclusive of its historical diversities.