The city of Turin, Italy, will host the Special Olympics World Winter Games from March 8 to 15. Italy has hosted regular Olympics games which are held every four years on three occasions, the winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo in 1956, the Summer Olympics in Rome in 1960 and the Winter Olympics again in in 2006. Because of this it is well prepared to host winter sport events.

The Special Olympics World Games take place every two years and alternate between summer and winter games, a schedule similar to the Olympics and Paralympics. The games were founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver to highlight the incredible power of sport and to establish inclusion and support for people with intellectual and physical disabilities.