To be eligible to participate in Special Olympics, athletes must be at least 8 years old and identified by an agency or professional as having one of the following conditions: intellectual disability; a cognitive delay as determined by standardized measures such as intelligence quotient or other generally accepted measures; or a closely related development disability, i.e., functional limitations in both general learning and adaptive skills. There is no cost to participate in Special Olympics. All prospective athletes must register to participate in Special Olympics.

There is no maximum age limitation for participation in Special Olympics. The minimum age requirement for participation in Special Olympics competition is 8 years of age. For children with intellectual disabilities ages 2 through 7, Young Athletes strengthens physical development and self-esteem by building skills for future sports participation and socialization.

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The fundamental difference that sets Special Olympics competitions apart from those of other sports organizations is that athletes of all ability levels are encouraged to participate, and every athlete is recognized for his or her performance. Competitions are structured so that athletes compete with other athletes of similar ability in equitable divisions.

Divide Athletes by Gender
Male, Female, and Mixed

Divide Athletes by Age
Individual Sports：8-11, 12-15, 16-21, 22-29 & above 30
Team Sports：below 15, 16-21 & above 22
Divide the group by athlete's ages calculated on the opening date of the competition. The age for a team is determined by the age of the oldest athlete in that team on the opening date of the competition.

Divide Athletes by Ability
Declared records or results of the preliminary seeding round are used in dividing the group before preliminaries.
In individual sports, the highest and lowest scores within each division should be as similar as not exceeding 10% in difference.
Results from preliminary seeding round are used as proofs and modification supports in the official games.

Divide Athletes by Ability
To complete the divisioning process, divide the group according to their performance marks. In some instances age groups need to be broadened. In those cases, athletes within the new age groups will be re-ranked and grouped into divisions. This process must be repeated until the highest and lowest scores within each division are as similar as possible.

Divide Athletes into Mixed Gender Group
Athletes at the same age with similar performance, no matter male or female, may be mixed while the maximum number is 8 and the minimum 3.
Special Olympics regulates that all participating athletes should spare no efforts in both preliminary and official games or otherwise would be disqualified from the Special Olympics. Any athletes may be disqualified if his/her final results indicate a difference of 15% or more than the declared records or results of the preliminary seeding round.

Advancement of Special Olympics
How can an athlete be advanced from a lower level game to a higher level game (i.e. from regional game to world game)?

The athlete must have participated in a minimum of eight weeks in an organized training program under a SO coach before competition; The athlete must participate in the same sport or sports as he/she previously trained; The quota shall be reasonably allocated at priority to those of the first-place winners in at the lower level competition. If the number of first-place winners exceeds the quota, athletes shall be chosen by random selection from among all the division winners; Athletes of the second-place winners shall be chosen by random if the number of first-place falls short of quota, all the first place winner will be advanced. If the number of athletes thus selected still falls short, repeat the selection procedure mentioned above till the quota is reached ; Regional games can set out new rules according to athletes’ performance, health and other practical cases, by first submitting in written applications to SOI’s head office.

Difference between the Special Olympics, the Olympics Games and the Paralympic Games
The Special Olympics World Games is set up by Special Olympics International for people with intellectual disabilities. It differs from the Olympics Games and the Paralympics in the following aspects: participating athlete: Special Olympics athletes are usually those with IQ below 70; purpose: Special Olympics emphasizes participation instead of competition; sports rules: The rules of Special Olympics have unique characteristics, which fully demonstrate the principle of equal participation and competition based on equitable division of ability. Participating athletes will be divided according to age, gender and ability. Athletes with the same gender, similar age and equivalent ability will be placed in the same division

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Great information Dan! 

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