RETROSPECTIVE SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD GAMES LOS ANGELES 2015: RETROSPECTIVE IN BRIEF The 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games returned to the United States for the first time since 1999. Los Angeles, successful host to both the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games, and a forerunner of the Special Olympics World Games in 1972, produced a memorable display of sports and social action over two weeks during the summer. Highlights: C Los Angeles-record 164 delegations attended in the Games, the largest gathering of nations in City history, surpassing the total of 141 for the 1983 meeting of the International Olympic Committee Executive Board with the National Olympic Committees and 140 for the 1984 Olympic Games and 2012 I.O.C. Women’s Conference. C World Games record of 247,247 attendees across the 23 sports and ceremonies venues. C World Games record of 1,728 credentialed news media (1,514 on site) from 79 nations. C World Games first: performance records compiled in five sports and 46 new best-on-record performances set in Aquatics, Athletics, Cycling, Powerlifting and Roller Skating. C 6,163 athletes from 164 nations earned a total of 8,060 medals and 3,392 placing ribbons over 290 events in 23 sports across nine competition days from 25 July-2 August. Athletes and delegations: C Delegations totaled 8,814 participants from 164 nations, including 6,163 athletes and 2,651 coaches and officials. C Some 54% of all athletes walked to their competitions at UCLA and USC; all others were bused to sites in Long Beach, the Griffith Park area or Encino. Finance: C Games were held on a balanced budget of $66 million (cash and in-kind support), 37% less than the original projection of $104.6 million, one of the few Games to ever be held for less than originally projected. C Fund-raising and sponsorship programs invited participation at all levels, including six Official Partners (Bank of America, The Coca-Cola Company, Deloitte, LLC, Kaiser Permanente, Mattel, Inc., Toyota) and a total of 187 companies and/or individuals who contributed $25,000 or more. Individual “Support An Athlete” campaigns for $2,500 each raised a total of more than $1.5 million. Guests: C Special Olympics program for families registered 5,565 family members (4,653 on-site), providing credentials, reserved seating, complimentary tickets for the Opening Ceremony and a 28 July reception in Grand Park for more than 3,000 attendees featuring country music star Hunter Hayes. C Strong Honored Guests program supported 3,410 individuals in four tiers, in cooperation with Special Olympics, Inc. (SOI). = [ 2 ] = LA2015 IN BRIEF C Hotel reservation program for the World Games in Los Angeles and Long Beach accounted for 18,289 room nights at 34 different properties. Hotels in the City of Los Angeles alone accounted for $2 million in room revenue and generated more than $350,000 in Transient Occupancy Taxes for the City. C Host Towns spanning 97 communities, in seven California counties, hosted athletes from 21- 24 July, prior to their arrival at the athlete housing sites at UCLA and USC. Media: C First-ever ESPN broadcast of more than 13 hours of previews and coverage on ABC and ESPN, including 3½-hour coverage of the Opening Ceremony and 10 highlights shows between 25 July and 8 August. Including re-airs on ESPN networks, a total of 38 hours of coverage was shown in the U.S., with a cumulative audience of 20.16 million viewers. C World Games record of 1,728 credentialed news media (1,514 on-site), from 79 nations, nearly doubled the old mark of 889 from the Athens Games of 2011. Strong coverage was seen in local, national and international media. C Powerful Social Media program on six platforms produced 2.9 billion digital impressions during the Games period, 2.05 million Web site visits, 190,456 social-media followers and/or subscribers and an archive of 23,108 royalty-free photographs on Flickr. Medical Support: C Pro bono support of more than 600 medical professionals throughout Southern California, including Kaiser Permanente, UCLA, USC, Children’s Hospital and Western University to staff sports venues and polyclinics in the athlete housing sites. C Healthy Athletes program provided 18,579 free screenings in six disciplines to 5,484 athletes, with 5,000+ pairs of shoes, 1,300 pairs of eyeglasses and 332 hearing aids distributed. Spectators: C Amazing estimated attendance of 247,247 for World Games sports and ceremonies, including 62,338 for the Opening Ceremony (including delegations seated on the field) on 25 July. C Most popular sports by attendance were Basketball (25,800), Handball (14,286), Gymnastics (14,000), Aquatics (11,500) and Athletics (9,600). C “Fans in the Stands” initiative recruited 5,188 “team captains” who in turn registered a total of 111,721 individuals who volunteered to come out for at least one sports session. C All competition sessions were free of charge to the public (no tickets required). Staff and Volunteers: C LA2015 had a compact team of just 338 paid staff and contractors, plus 21 loaned executives, 41 interns and 28 internal volunteers for a team total of 428. C Remarkable total of 8,560 volunteers worked the Games, contributing 332,490 total hours (an average of 38.8 hours each) during the Games. C These volunteers were selected from a pool of 29,616 who completed a registration form, beginning in mid-2014. A remarkable 32% indicated language skills other than English. Sustainability: C World Games used existing venues in all cases; no new facilities were built, but were centered at the Los Angeles Convention Center area (7 sports), UCLA (7), USC (3), Long Beach (3 sites hosting 6 sports), Griffith Park area (2) and Balboa Park (1). C Media Operations printed only condensed start lists; no results were printed for distribution, but were available solely online. = [ 3 ] = SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD GAMES LOS ANGELES 2015: RETROSPECTIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS (Information available as of 30 September 2015) Preface.. page 6 1. Reflections.. 7 2. Los Angeles 2015: Organization 2.01 About LA2015: Approach and Principles. 10 2.02 Award of the 2015 World Games. 11 2.03 LA2015 Board of Directors. 13 2.04 LA2015 Leadership Staff. 14 2.05 Accommodations. 16 2.06 Ceremonies. 17 2.07 Credentials. 33 2.08 Delegation Services. 36 2.09 Development, Partners and Sponsors. 42 2.10 Digital Strategy. 46 2.11 Family Services. 49 2.12 Fans, Fans in the Stands and Cheerleaders. 51 2.13 Finance.. 55 2.14 Food Service. 57 2.15 Global Messengers.. 59 2.16 Graphics and Look. 59 2.17 Honored Guests. 65 2.18 Host Town. 68 2.19 International Relations. 73 2.20 Language Services.. 74 2.21 Licensing and Merchandise. 75 2.22 Logistics. 75 2.23 Media Operations. 76 2.24 Medical Programs.. 84 2.25 Office Administration. 88 2.26 Philately. 89 2.27 Promotion and Publicity. 90 2.28 Publications. 94 2.29 Security and Spectator Services.. 96 2.30 Special Events. 98 2.31 Staffing. 103 2.32 Technology. 115 2.33 Torch Relay. 121 2.34 Transportation. 124 2.35 Venue Development and Venue Management. 127 2.36 Red-Letter Days in LA2015 History. 131 = [ 4 ] = TABLE OF CONTENTS 3. LA2015: Sports & Venues 3.01 Athlete Eligibility. 137 3.02 Divisioning and Schedule. 138 3.03 Sports and Sports Management. 139 3.04 Aquatics (Swimming and Open Water).. 141 3.05 Athletics (Track & Field and Road Running).. 144 3.06 Badminton. 146 3.07 Basketball. 147 3.08 Bocce. 148 3.09 Bowling. 149 3.10 Cycling. 149 3.11 Equestrian. ..