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South Korean Special Olympics athletes arrive in LA

July 22, 2015
South Korean athletes and staff arrive at Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday to participate in the Special Olympics World Games. (Korea Times)

South Korean athletes and staff arrive at Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday to participate in the Special Olympics World Games. (Korea Times)

South Korean athletes and staff arrived in Los Angeles Tuesday for the Special Olympics World Games.

The group of 92 athletes, 27 coaches and 12 staffers will represent Korea in 11 categories: track and field, swimming, golf, table tennis, volleyball, basketball, soccer, weightlifting, rollerskating, badminton and bocce.

“The Special Olympics are about challenges and working hard, not competition and winning and losing,” said Park Ki-jong, team manager. “We’ll do our best to get good results to help Korean Americans here feel pride, and to let it be known that Korea is a leader in adaptive sports.”

This year’s Special Olympics, the largest sporting event in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympics, will host about 7,000 athletes from 177 countries in 27 venues around the city.