Special Olympics General Rules
These Special Olympics Official General Rules have been revised and restated in order to provide current and consolidated guidance to all accredited Special Olympics Programs. This revised edition of the General Rules was adopted by the Special Olympics Board of Directors on 22 July 1997. The Special Olympics Board of Directors amended sections 3.17, 4.08 and 7.13 on 28 June 1999, section 2.07 on 16 October 2001, and Section 4.02(d) on 18 November 2003. In addition numerous technical amendments were approved by the Executive Committee on 13 June 2003. All amended text is included.
These revised General Rules are issued in English. The General Rules use the phrase “persons with mental retardation” when describing the individuals eligible for participation in Special Olympics. Programs may substitute for that phrase a reference to “mental handicap,” “mental disability,” “intellectual disability” or other phrases approved by Special Olympics, Inc. as provided in Section 10.01, if that alternate terminology is recognized by their respective national governments.
These General Rules (Adobe PDF document, 724K) are an official publication of Special Olympics, Inc.
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