This year marks the 40th anniversary of an international event that began in Chicago: the Special Olympics.

Opening ceremonies for Chicago’s Special Olympics track and field events were held at Soldier Field on May 6. Athletes had the opportunity to compete in events such as the 100-meter wheelchair relay or the running long jump at the three day event.

Andrew Nelles / The Chronicle

Gentry Bailey from Ray Graham Training Center, participates in a 100-meter mobilization race during the Special Olympics event on May 9.

“Athletes participate in anything from wheelchair events to shot put,” said Dan Conley, manager of Program Operations.

Spring track and field events are followed by bowling events and the kick-off of the summer Special Olympics.

The ceremonies featured many festivities, including the Parade of Athletes, which showcased athletes from 100 agencies around the city of Chicago, Conley said.

The theme of this year’s Special Olympics is “Dream it. Dare it. Do it.” The theme represents all the things that athletes have been able to achieve through Special Olympics and the skills they can use outside the games, Conley said.

Conley said more than 2,700 athletes participated in the track and field events this year. Alongside athletes, more than 900 coaches and chaperones and 500 volunteers joined together each day to make the games possible, he said.

The competitions included running events, relay races, softball throw, high jump and others. This is a vast difference from the first Special Olympics, held on at Soldier Field on July 20, 1968, said Michele Hensen, director of Communication and Publication for Special Olympics Illinois.

“At the first games, there were only two sports, track and field and aquatics,” said Hensen. “Now in Illinois we offer 19 sports and the Special Olympics Inc. offers 23 sanctioned sports.”

Due in part to the fact that Soldier Field was home to the world’s first ever Special Olympics, Chicago is hugely invested in the games, she said.

Hensen said 40 years ago, the public didn’t think individuals with developmental disabilities could participate in sports.

But two influential women told the world otherwise. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, member of one the most prominent U.S. political families and Anne Burke, who went on to become an Illinois Supreme Court Justice, came together to form the Special Olympics, Hensen said.

“Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Anne Burke worked together with others to organize those games and to change

[the mindset] that [disabled people couldn’t play sports],” she said.

After Chicago founded the now-international event, more than 17 offices were founded throughout Illinois in order to broaden the range of athletes from the state, said Kathy McLaughlin, manager of Development for Special Olympics Illinois.

Once only hosting 1,000 athletes from 26 states and Canada, the Chicago Special Olympics event has grown to more than 21,000 children and adults who either participate or volunteer, she said.

Tim Hunt / The Chronicle

The Special Olympics torch at Soldier Field, 1410 S. Museum Campus Drive, stands above the 100-meter mobilization track at the ChicagSpecial Olympics on May 8.

Now that the program has gone beyond the borders of the United States, 25 other countries have developed their own form of the Special Olympics, raising the total number of athletes to more than 2.5 million, McLaughlin said.

The criteria to become an athlete are not complicated, McLaughlin said. Athletes must be at least 8 years old and have a diagnosed intellectual disability. The most common of the disabilities found in the Special Olympics are autism and Down syndrome. Even with those disabilities, however, the athletic skills of the children should not be underestimated.

“These athletes are leading the program,” Henson said. “They are branching out in so many ways. It is great to see them grow and to be accepted by society.”

The Chicago community, which once mocked the Special Olympics, is now greatly involved with the development and deployment of the games, Hensen said. For the past 23 years, the Special Olympics Torch Run has been raising money for the program through the involvement of all forms of law enforcement agencies. Raising more than $2 million in donations last year, the Torch Run has become an integral part of the ceremony, Hensen said.

The Special Olympic Torch Run for Illinois was started by a law enforcement officer from Kansas who thought it would be a great idea to raise money for the Special Olympics, Henson said. From then on, the Torch Run has become a form of a charity.

One bone-chilling fundraiser that benefits the Special Olympics is the Chicago Polar Plunge, a dive into Lake Michigan in the middle of winter.

Although most people have heard about the annual Polar Plunge, many people have no idea that the dive into frigid waters actually benefits the Special Olympics, Conley said.

Chicago Polar Plunge participants must collect at least $75 in donations in order to participate, Conley said. All proceeds from the Polar Plunge go to the Special Olympics of Illinois.

Forty years and passionate commitment has helped the Special Olympics evolve into what it is today, McLaughlin said. However, many people still don’t know about the variety of things the Special Olympics offer, she said.

Apart from the track and field and aquatic competitions, the Special Olympics offer numerous other programs for a wide range of abilities, Henson said. The program recently began a motor-activity training program that is geared toward individuals with severe and profound disabilities, Henson said. Whereas the program is not a competition against another athlete, the program is more of a skill development that also offers the chance for those athletes to compete with non-Special Olympic athletes.

“A lot of the public is asking when exactly the Special Olympics are going on, but we go all year long,” she said.

“The Special Olympics through these 40 years has given people with disabilities a venue to show the public what they can do,” Henson said. “It is not about what they can’t do, but rather, what they can do.”

For more information about the Special Olympics of Illinois, visit SOIll.org.

Colin Shively contributed to this report.